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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 

10003058094 

Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/jackanapes02ewin 


Frontispiece— Jackanapes. 

"  *  JACKANAPES,  IT   WON'T    DO,  YOU   AND    LOLLO    MUST   GO   ON.' 


See  page  62, 


rfSa 


ACKANA 

with 

f'LLUSTRATIONS 


RANDOLPH 

CALDECOTT 

^v/x  AAA  /V./ 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 
J.    H.    WlLLARD 


HENRY   ALTEMUS   COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA 


BY   THE    SAME   AUTHOR 


The  Story  of  a  Short  Life 


50  Cents 


Copyright,  1903,  by  Henry  Altemus 

T 


Library,  Univ.  oi 
North  Carolina 


INTRODUCTION 


I 


"TF  there  is  a  soul  so  dead  that  it  does  not 
know  'Jackanapes',  let  it  stop  all  other 
reading  until  that  is  read.  I  do  not  know  a 
better  short  story."  So  says  one  who  knows  what 
is  good  for  young  people  to  read ;  and  the  dictum 
is  borne  out  by  the  unquestioned  popularity  of  the 
sturdy,  honorable  hero  of  the  story. 

"Jackanapes"  made  Mrs.  E  wing's  name  de- 
servedly famous,  for  it  not  only  contains  her 
highest  teaching,  but  is  her  best  piece  of  literary 
work.  It  was  not,  however,  her  first  "soldier 
story,"  for  in  "The  Peace  Egg"— now  incorpo- 
rated into  this  volume,  she  first  began  to  sing  those 
praises  of  military  life  and  courtesies  which  she 
afterward  more  fully  set  forth  in  "Jackanapes" 
and  "The  Story  of  a  Short  Life.", 


INTRODUCTION 

The  secret  of  the  popularity  of  Mrs.  E wing's 
stories  probably  lies  in  her  constructive  ability. 
She  always  had  a  clear  idea  of  what  she  was  to 
write.  With  regard  to  the  introduction  of  passion 
into  stories,  she  held  that  ' '  It  was  most  necessary, 
but  that  human  feelings  are  elastic  and  soon  over- 
strained, and  that  this  kind  of  ammunition  should 
be  sparingly  fired,  with  intervals  of  refreshment. ' ' 
One  of  the  most  important  doctrines  she  held,  and 
in  an  extraordinary  manner  carried  out,  was,  that 
if  a  writer  could  express  himself  in  one  word  he 
was  not  to  use  two." 

In  the  story  of  "Jackanapes,"  the  captain's 
child,  with  his  clear  blue  eyes  and  mop  of  yellow 
curls,  is  the  one  important  figure.  True,  there  are 
the  doting  aunt,  the  weak-kneed,  but  faithful  Tony, 
the  irascible  general,  the  punctilious  postman,  the 
loyal  boy-trumpeter,  the  silent  major,  and  the 
ever-dear  Lollo,  but  all  these  life-like  figures  group 
around  the  hero  in  subordinate  positions.  In  all 
they  say  and  do  and  feel  they  conspire  to  reflect 
the  glory  and  beauty  of  the  noble,  generous, 
tender-spirited  hero,  "Jackanapes." 

J.  H.  W. 

vi 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


"  '  Jackanapes,  it  won't  do.     You  and  Lollo  must  go  on  '  " 

Frontispiece. 

"  .  .  .  And  teach  them  the  goose-step  " 13 

"  '  He  has  taken  her  to  a  Green'  " 19 

"  Under  the  oak-tree  on  the  Green  " 21 

"  Now  he  was  his  own  master  "  .        .     ^  .        .        .        .27 

"Very  friendly  with  Tony  Johnson" 31 

"  During  the  first  round  he  waved  his  hat "  .  .  .  .35 
"  '  You  should  see  it  in  Fair- week,  Sir '  "  .        .        .         .43 

"  'I  can  make  him  go,'  said  Jackanapes"  .  .  .  .49 
"  He  and  the  Postman  saluted  each  other  "  ....  55 
"  A  Boy  Trumpeter,  grave  beyond  his  years  "  .         .        .        .57 

"  '  Can  I  do  anything  else  for  you?'  " 65 

"  Lollo  draws  Miss  Jessamine  slowly  up  and  down  "  .  .71 
"  Wandering  off  into  the  lanes  " 73 


"  She  chose  the  Captain  " 

"The  Captain's  tenderness  never  failed  " 

"  '  You  must  n't  speak  to  a  sentry  on  duty ' " 

"He  stood  when  we  were  kneeling" 

"'Oh   I'm  so  sorry'"        .... 

"  It  was  her  father,  with  her  child  in  his  arms ' 

"Walked  into  church  abreast  of  the  Captain " 


.  78 
.  85 
.  92 
.  98 
.  120 
.  124 
.  127 


(vii) 


JACKANAPES 


CHAPTER  I 

TWO  Donkeys  and  the  Geese  lived  on  the 
Green,  and  all  other  residents  of  any 
social  standing  lived  in  houses  round  it. 
The  houses  had  no  names.  Everybody's  ad- 
dress was,  "The  Green,"  but  the  Postman  and 
the  people  of  the  place  knew  where  each  family 
lived.  As  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  what  has  one 
to. do  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  when  he  is  safe 
at  home  on  his  own  Goose  Green?  Moreover, 
if  a  stranger  did  come  on  any  lawful  business, 
he  might  ask  his  way  at  the  shop. 

Most  of  the  inhabitants  were  long-lived,  early 
deaths  (like  that  of  the  little  Miss  Jessamine) 
being  exceptional;  and  most  of  the  old  people 
were  proud  of  their  age,  especially  the  sexton,  who 

9 


JACKANAPES 

would  be  ninety-nine  come  Martinmas,  and  whose 
father  remembered  a  man  who  had  carried 
arrows,  as  a  boy,  for  the  battle  of  Flodden  Field. 
The  Gray  Goose  and  the  big  Miss  Jessamine  were 
the  only  elderly  persons  who  kept  their  ages 
secret.  Indeed,  Miss  Jessamine  never  mentioned 
any  one 's  age,  or  recalled  the  exact  year  in  which 
anything  had  happened.  She  said  that  she  had 
been  taught  that  it  was  bad  manners  to  do  so  "in 
a  mixed  assembly." 

The  Gray  Goose  also  avoided  dates,  but  this 
was  partly  because  her  brain,  though  intelligent, 
was  not  mathematical,  and  computation  was  be- 
yond her.  She  never  got  farther  than  "last 
Michaelmas,"  "the  Michaelmas  before  that," 
and  "the  Michaelmas  before  the  Michaelmas  be- 
fore that. ' '  After  this  her  head,  which  was  small, 
became  confused,  and  she  said  "Ga,  ga!"  and 
changed  the  subject. 

But  she  remembered  the  little  Miss  Jessamine, 
the  Miss  Jessamine  with  the  "conspicuous"  hair. 
Her  aunt,  the  big  Miss  Jessamine,  said  it  was  her 
only  fault.  The  hair  was  clean,  was  abundant, 
was  glossy,  but  do  what  you  would  with  it,  it 

10 


JACKANAPES 

never  looked  quite  like  other  people's.  And  at 
church,  after  Saturday  night's  wash,  it  shone  like 
the  best  brass  fender  after  a  spring  cleaning.  In 
short,  it  was  conspicuous,  which  does  not  become  a 
young  woman— especially  in  church. 

Those  were  worrying  times  altogether,  and  the 
Green  was  used  for  strange  purposes.  A  political 
meeting  was  held  on  it,  with  the  village  Cobbler 
in  the  chair,  and  a  speaker  who  came  by  stage 
coach  from  the  town,  where  they  had  wrecked 
the  bakers'  shops  and  discussed  the  price  of 
bread.  He  came  a  second  time,  by  stage,  but  the 
people  had  heard  something  about  him  in  the 
meanwhile,  and  they  did  not  keep  him  on  the 
Green.  They  took  him  to  the  pond  and  tried  to 
make  him  swim,  which  he  could  not  do,  and  the 
whole  affair  was  very  disturbing  to  all  quiet  and 
peaceable  fowls.  After  which  another  man  came 
and  preached  sermons  on  the  Green,  and  a  great 
many  people  went  to  hear  him;  for  those  were 
"trying  times,"  and  folk  ran  hither  and  thither 
for  comfort.  And  then  what  did  they  do  but 
drill  the  ploughboys  on  the  Green,  to  get  them 
ready  to  fight  the  French,   and  teach  them  the 

ii 


JACKANAPES 

goose-step!  However,  that  came  to  an  end  at 
last,  for  Bony  was  sent  to  St.  Helena,  and  the 
ploughboys  were  sent  back  to  the  plough. 

Everybody  lived  in  fear  of  Bony  in  those  days, 
especially  the  naughty  children,  who  were  kept 
in  order  during  the  day  by  threats  of,  "Bony 
shall  have  you,"  and  who  had  nightmares  about 
him  in  the  dark.  They  thought  he  was  an  Ogre 
in  a  cocked  hat.  The  Gray  Goose  thought  he  was 
a  Fox,  and  that  all  the  men  of  England  were 
going  out  in  red  coats  to  hunt  him.  It  was  no 
use  to  argue  the  point,  for  she  had  a  very  small 
head,  and  when  one  idea  got  into  it  there  was  no 
room  for  another. 

Besides,  the  Gray  Goose  never  saw  Bony,  nor 
did  the  children,  which  rather  spoiled  the  terror 
of  him,  so  that  the  Black  Captain  became  more 
effective  as  a  Bogy  with  hardened  offenders. 
The  Gray  Goose  remembered  his  coming  to  the 
place  perfectly.  What  he  came  for  she  did  not 
pretend  to  know.  It  was  all  part  and  parcel  of 
the  war  and  bad  times.  He  was  called  the  Black 
Captain,  partly  because  of  himself  and  partly 
because  of  his  wonderful  black  mare.      Strange 

12 


JACKANAPES 

stories  were  afloat  of  how  far  and  how  fast  that 
mare  could  go,  when  her  master's  hand  was  on 
her  mane  and  he  whispered  in  her  ear.  Indeed, 
some  people  thought  we  might  reckon  ourselves 


AND   TEACH   THEM   THE   GOOSE-STEP.' 


very  lucky  if  we  were  not  out  of  the  frying-pan 
into  the  fire,  and  had  not  got  a  certain  well- 
known  Gentleman  of  the  Road  to  protect  us 
against  the  French.      But  that,  of  course,  made 

13 


JACKANAPES 

him  none  the  less  useful  to  the  Johnsons'  Nurse, 
when  the  little  Miss  Johnsons  were  naughty. 

"You  leave  off  crying  this  minnit,  Miss  Jane, 
or  I  '11  give  you  right  away  to  the  horrid,  wicked 
officer.  Jemima!  just  look  out  o'  the  windy,  if 
you  please,  and  see  if  the  Black  Cap'n's  a-coming 
with  his  horse  to  carry  away  Miss  Jane. ' ' 

And  there,  sure  enough,  the  Black  Captain 
strode  by,  with  his  sword  clattering  as  if  it  did 
not  know  whose  head  to  cut  off  first.  But  he 
did  not  call  for  Miss  Jane  that  time.  He  went 
on  to  the  Green,  where  he  came  so  suddenly  upon 
the  eldest  Master  Johnson,  sitting  in  a  puddle  on 
purpose,  in  his  new  nankeen  skeleton  suit,  that 
the  young  gentleman  thought  judgment  had  over- 
taken him  at  last,  and  abandoned  himself  to  the 
howlings  of  despair.  His  howls  were  redoubled 
when  he  was  clutched  from  behind  and  swung 
over  the  Black  Captain's  shoulder,  but  in  five 
minutes  his  tears  were  stanched,  and  he  was  play- 
ing with  the  officer's  accoutrements.  All  of  which 
the  Gray  Goose  saw  with  her  own  eyes,  and  heard 
afterwards  that  that  bad  boy  had  been  whining 
to  go  back  to  the  Black  Captain  ever  since,  which 

14 


JACKANAPES 

showed  how  hardened  he  was,  and  that  nobody 
but  Bonaparte  himself  conld  be  expected  to  do 
him  any  good. 

But  those  were  " trying  times."  It  was  bad 
enough  when  the  pickle  of  a  large  and  respectable 
family  cried  for  the  Black  Captain;  when  it  came 
to  the  little  Miss  Jessamine  crying  for  him,  one 
felt  that  the  sooner  the  French  landed  and  had 
done  with  it  the  better. 

The  big  Miss  Jessamine's  objection  to  him  was 
that  he  was  a  soldier,  and  this  prejudice  was 
shared  by  all  the  Green.  "A  soldier,"  as  the 
speaker  from  the  town  had  observed,  "is  a  blood- 
thirsty, unsettled  sort  of  a  rascal ;  that  the  peace- 
able, home-loving,  bread-winning  citizen  can 
never  conscientiously  look  on  as  a  brother,  till 
he  has  beaten  his  sword  into  a  ploughshare,  and 
his  spear  into  a  pruninghook. " 

On  the  other  hand,  there  was  some  truth  in 
what  the  Postman  (an  old  soldier)  said  in  reply; 
that  the  sword  has  to  cut  a  way  for  us  out  of 
many  a  scrape  into  which  our  bread-winners  get 
us  when  they  drive  their  ploughshares  into  fal- 
lows that  don't  belong  to  them.      Indeed,  whilst 

i5 


JACKANAPES 

our  most  peaceful  citizens  were  prosperous  chiefly 
by  means  of  cotton,  of  sugar,  and  of  the  rise  and 
fall  of  the  money  market  (not  to  speak  of  such 
salable  matters  as  opium,  firearms,  and  "black 
ivory"),  disturbances  were  apt  to  arise  in  India, 
Africa,  and  other  outlandish  parts,  where  the 
fathers  of  our  domestic  race  were  making  for- 
tunes for  their  families.  And,  for  that  matter, 
even  on  the  Green,  we  did  not  wish  the  military 
to  leave  us  in  the  lurch,  so  long  as  there  was  any 
fear  that  the  French  were  coming. 

To  let  the  Black  Captain  have  little  Miss  Jessa- 
mine, however,  was  another  matter.  Her  aunt 
would  not  hear  of  it;  and  then,  to  crown  all,  it 
appeared  that  the  Captain's  father  did  not  think 
the  young  lady  good  enough  for  his  son.  Never 
was  any  affair  more  clearly  brought  to  a  con- 
clusion. 

But  those  were  "trying  times;"  and  one 
moonlight  night,  when  the  Gray  Goose  was  sound 
asleep  upon  one  leg,  the  Green  was  rudely  shaken 
under  her  by  the  thud  of  a  horse's  feet.  "Ga, 
ga!"  said  she,  putting  down  the  other  leg,  and 
running  away. 

16 


JACKANAPES 

By  the  time  she  returned  to  her  place  not  a 
thing  was  to  be  seen  or  heard.  The  horse  had 
passed  like  a  shot.  But  next  day  there  was 
hurrying  and  skurrying  and  cackling  at  a  very 
early  hour,  all  about  the  white  house  with  the 
black  beams,  where  Miss  Jessamine  lived.  And 
when  the  sun  was  so  low  and  the  shadows  so  long 
on  the  grass  that  the  Gray  Goose  felt  ready  to 
run  away  at  the  sight  of  her  own  neck,  little  Miss 
Jane  Johnson,  and  her  "particular  friend" 
Clarinda,  sat  under  the  big  oak  tree  on  the  Green, 
and  Jane  pinched  Clarinda 's  little  finger  till  she 
found  that  she  could  keep  a  secret,  and  then 
she  told  her  in  confidence  that  she  had  heard 
from  Nurse  and  Jemima  that  Miss  Jessamine's 
niece  had  been  a  very  naughty  girl,  and 
that  that  horrid,  wicked  officer  had  come  for 
her  on  his  black  horse,  and  carried  her  right 
away. 

"Will  she  never  come  back?"  asked  Clarinda. 

1 '  Oh,  no ! "  said  Jane,  decidedly.  ' '  Bony  never 
brings  people  back." 

"Not  never  no  more?"  sobbed  Clarinda,  for 
she  was  weak-minded,  and  could  not  bear  to  think 

2—Ja.i  kanapes.  I  / 


JACKANAPES 

that  Bony  never,  never  let  naughty  people  go 
home  again. 

Next  day  Jane  had  heard  more. 

"He  has  taken  her  to  a  Green ?" 

"A  Goose  Green!"  asked  Clarinda. 

"No.  A  Gretna  Green.  Don't  ask  so  many 
questions,  child,"  said  Jane;  who,  having  no 
more  to  tell,  gave  herself  airs. 

Jane  was  wrong  on  one  point.  Miss  Jessa- 
mine's niece  did  come  back,  and  she  and  her 
husband  were  forgiven.  The  Gray  Goose  re- 
membered it  well— it  was  Michaelmastide,  the 
Michaelmas  before  the  Michaelmas  before  the 
Michaelmas— but  ga,  ga!  What  does  the  date 
matter  ?  It  was  autumn,  harvest-time,  and  every- 
body was  so  busy  prophesying  and  praying  about 
the  crops,  that  the  young  couple  wandered 
through  the  lanes,  and  got  blackberries  for  Miss 
Jessamine's  celebrated  crab  and  blackberry  jam, 
and  made  guys  of  themselves  with  bryony 
wreaths,  and  not  a  soul  troubled  his  head  about 
them,  except  the  children  and  the  Postman. 
The  children  dogged  the  Black  Captain's  foot- 
steps  (his  bubble  reputation  as  an  Ogre  having 

18 


JACKANAPES 

burst),  clamoring  for  a  ride  on  the  black  mare. 
And  the  Postman  would  go  somewhat  out  of  his 
postal  way  to  catch  the  Captain's  dark  eye,  and 
show  that  he  had  not  forgotten  how  to  salute 
an  officer. 


"'HE   HAS   TAKEN    HER   TO   A   GREEN.'  " 


But  they  were  "trying  times."  One  afternoon 
the  black  mare  was  stepping  gently  up  and  down 
the  grass,  with  her  head  at  her  master's  shoulder, 
and  as  many  children  crowded  on  her  silky  back 

19 


JACKANAPES 

as  if  she  had  been  an  elephant  in  a  menagerie; 
and  the  next  afternoon  she  carried  him  away, 
sword  and  sabre-tacJie  clattering  war-music  at 
her  side,  and  the  old  Postman  waiting  for  them, 
rigid  with  salutation,  at  the  four  crossroads. 

War  and  bad  times!  It  was  a  hard  winter, 
and  the  big  Miss  Jessamine  and  the  little  Miss 
Jessamine  (but  she  was  Mrs.  Black-Captain  now) 
lived  very  economically  that  they  might  help 
their  poorer  neighbors.  They  neither  enter- 
tained nor  went  into  company,  but  the  young 
lady  always  went  up  the  village  as  far  as  the 
" George  and  Dragon,"  for  air  and  exercise, 
when  the  London  Mail  came  in. 

One  day  (it  was  a  day  in  the  following  June) 
it  came  in  earlier  than  usual,  and  the  young  lady 
was  not  there  to  meet  it. 

But  a  crowd  soon  gathered  round  the  "George 
and  Dragon,"  gaping  to  see  the  Mail  Coach 
dressed  with  flowers  and  oak-leaves,  and  the 
guard  wearing  a  laurel  wreath  over  and  above 
his  royal  livery.  The  ribbons  that  decked  the 
horses  were  stained  and  flecked  with  the  warmth 
and  foam  of  the  pace  at  which  they  had  come, 

20 


JACKANAPES 
for  they  had  pressed  on  with  the  news  of  Victory. 


r,  Vu^- 


:< UNDER  THE  OAK  TREE  ON  THE  GREEN." 


Miss    Jessamine    was    sitting    with    her    niece 
nnder  the  oak  tree  on  the  Green,  when  the  Post- 


21 


JACKANAPES 

man   put   a   newspaper    silently   into   her   hand. 
Her  niece  tnrned  quickly— 
fc    "Is  there  news!" 

"Don't  agitate  yourself,  my  dear,"  said  her 
aunt.  "I  will  read  it  aloud,  and  then  we  can 
enjoy  it  together;  a  far  more  comfortable 
method,  my  love,  than  when  you  go  up  the  vil- 
lage, and  come  home  out  of  breath,  having 
snatched  half  the  news  as  you  run." 

"I  am  all  attention,  dear  aunt,"  said  the  little 
lady,  clasping  her  hands  tightly  on  her  lap. 

Then  Miss  Jessamine  read  aloud— she  was 
proud  of  her  reading— and  the  old  soldier  stood 
at  attention  behind  her,  with  such  a  blending  of 
pride  and  pity  on  his  face  as  it  was  strange  to 
see:— 

"Downing  Steeet, 

June  22,  1815,  1a.m." 

"That's  one  in  the  morning,"  gasped  the  Post- 
man; "beg  your  pardon,  mum." 

But  though  he  apologized,  he  could  not  refrain 
from  echoing  here  and  there  a  weighty  word. 
"Glorious   victory,"— "  Two   hundred  pieces   of 

22 


JACKANAPES 

artillery,"— "Immense  quantity  of  ammunition, ' ' 
and  so  forth. 

"The  loes  of  the  British  Army  upon  this  occasion  has  unfor- 
tunately been  most  severe.  It  had  not  been  possible  to  make  out 
a  return  of  the  killed  and  wounded  when  Major  Perry  left  head- 
quarters. The  names  of  the  officers  killed  and  wounded,  as  far 
as  they  can  be  collected,  are  annexed. 

" 1  have  the  honor  — — " 

1  <  The  list,  aunt !     Read  the  list ! ' ' 

"My  love— my  darling— let  us  go  in  and—" 

"No.     Now!  now!" 

To  one  thing  the  supremely  afflicted  are  en- 
titled in  their  sorrow— to  be  obeyed— and  yet  it 
is  the  last  kindness  that  people  commonly  will 
do  them.  But  Miss  Jessamine  did.  Steadying 
her  voice,  as  best  she  might,  she  read  on,  and  the 
old  soldier  stood  bareheaded  to  hear  that  first 
Roll  of  the  Dead  at  Waterloo,  which  began  with 
the  Duke  of  Brunswick  and  ended  with  Ensign 
Brown.  Five-and-thirty  British  Captains  fell 
asleep  that  day  on  the  Bed  of  Honor,  and  the 
Black  Captain  slept  among  them. 

f  9F  #  #  gp  $fc  ^F 

There  are  killed  and  wounded  by  war,  of 
whom  no  returns  reach  Downing  Street. 

23 


JACKANAPES 

Three  days  later,  the  Captain's  wife  had  joined 
him,  and  Miss  Jessamine  was  kneeling  by  the 
cradle  of  their  orphan  son,  a  purple-red  morsel 
of  humanity,  with  conspicuously  golden  hair. 

"Will  he  live,  Doctor V9 

"Live?  God  bless  my  soul,  ma'am!  Look  at 
him!     The  young  Jackanapes !' ' 

24 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  Gray  Goose  remembered  quite  well  the 
year  that  Jackanapes  began  to  walk,  for 
it  was  the  year  that  the  speckled  hen  for 
the  first  time  in  all  her  motherly  life  got  out  of 
patience  when  she  was  sitting.  She  had  been 
rather  proud  of  the  eggs— they  were  unusually 
large— but  she  never  felt  quite  comfortable  on 
them;  and  whether  it  was  because  she  used  to 
get  cramp,  and  go  off  the  nest,  or  because  the 
season  was  bad,  or  what,  she  never  could  tell, 
but  every  egg  was  addled  but  one,  and  the  one 
that  did  hatch  gave  her  more  trouble  than  any 
chick  she  had  ever  reared. 

It  was  a  fine,  downy,  bright  yellow  little  thing, 
but  it  had  a  monstrous  big  nose  and  feet,  and 
such  an  ungainly  walk  as  she  Tmew  no  other 
instance  of  in  her  well-bred  and  high-stepping 
family.      And  as  to  behavior,  it  was  not  that  it 

25 


JACKANAPES 

was  either  quarrelsome  or  moping,  but  simply 
unlike  the  rest.  When  the  other  chicks  hopped 
and  cheeped  on  the  Green  about  their  mother's 
feet,  this  solitary  yellow  brat  went  waddling  off 
on  its  own  responsibility,  and  do  or  cluck  what 
the  speckled  hen  would,  it  went  to  play  in  the 
pond. 

It  was  off  one  day  as  usual,  and  the  hen  was 
fussing  and  fuming  after  it,  when  the  Postman, 
going  to  deliver  a  letter  at  Miss  Jessamine 's  door, 
was  nearly  knocked  over  by  the  good  lady  her- 
self, who,  bursting  out  of  the  house  with  her  cap 
just  off  and  her  bonnet  just  not  on,  fell  into  his 
arms,  crying:  — 

"Baby!    Baby!    Jackanapes!    Jackanapes ! ' ' 

If  the  Postman  loved  anything  on  earth,  he 
loved  the  Captain's  yellow-haired  child,  so  prop- 
ping Miss  Jessamine  against  her  own  door- 
post, he  followed  the  direction  of  her  trembling 
fingers  and  made  for  the  Green. 

Jackanapes  had  had  the  start  of  the  Postman 
by  nearly  ten  minutes.  The  world— the  round, 
green  world  with  an  oak  tree  on  it— was  just  be- 
coming very  interesting  to  him.      He  had  tried, 

26 


JACKANAPES 

vigorously  but  ineffectually,  to  mount  a  passing 
pig  the  last  time  he  was  taken  out  walking;  but 
then  he  was  encumbered  with  a  nurse.     Now  he 


"NOW   HE   WAS    HIS    OWN    MASTER. 


was  his  own  master,  and  might,  by  courage  and 
energy,  become  the  master  of  that  delightful, 
downy,  dumpy,  yellow  thing,  that  was  bobbing 

27 


JACKANAPES 

along  over  the  green  grass  in  front  of  him.  For- 
ward !  Charge !  He  aimed  well,  and  grabbed  it, 
but  only  to  feel  the  delicious  downiness  and 
dumpiness  slipping  through  his  fingers  as  he  fell 
upon  his  face.  "Quawk!"  said  the  yellow  thing, 
and  wobbled  off  sideways.  It  was  this  oblique 
movement  that  enabled  Jackanapes  to  come  up 
with  it,  for  it  was  bound  for  the  Pond,  and 
therefore  obliged  to  come  back  into  line.  He 
failed  again  from  top-heaviness,  and  his  prey 
escaped  sideways  as  before,  and,  as  before,  lost 
ground  in  getting  back  to  the  direct  road  to  the 
Pond. 

And  at  the  Pond  the  Postman  found  them  both, 
one  yellow  thing  rocking  safely  on  the  ripples 
that  lie  beyond  duck-weed,  and  the  other  washing 
his  draggled  frock  with  tears,  because  he,  too, 
had  tried  to  sit  upon  the  Pond,  and  it  wouldn't 
hold  him. 

28 


CHAPTER  III 

YOUNG  Mrs.  Johnson,  who  was  a  mother  of 
many,  hardly  knew  which  to  pity  more— 
Miss  Jessamine,  for  having  her  little  ways 
and    her    antimacassars    rumpled    by    a    young 
Jackanapes,     or    the    boy    himself,     for    being 
brought  up  by  an  old  maid. 

Oddly  enough,  she  would  probably  have  pitied 
neither,  had  Jackanapes  been  a  girl.  (One  is 
so  apt  to  think  that  what  works  smoothest  works 
to  the  highest  ends,  having  no  patience  for  the 
results  of  friction.)  That  Father  in  God,  who 
bade  the  young  men  to  be  pure,  and  the  maidens 
brave,  greatly  disturbed  a  member  of  his  con- 
gregation, who  thought  that  the  great  preacher 
had  made  a  slip  of  the  tongue. 

"That  the  girls  should  have  purity,  and  the 
boys  courage,  is  what  you  would  say,  good 
Father  !"  • 

29 


JACKANAPES 

"Nature  has  done  that,"  was  the  reply;  "I 
meant  what  I  said." 

In  good  sooth,  a  young  rnaid  is  all  the  better 
for  learning  some  robuster  virtues  than  maiden- 
liness  and  not  to  move  the  antimacassars.  And 
the  robuster  virtues  require  some  fresh  air  and 
freedom.  As,  on  the  other  hand,  Jackanapes 
(who  had  a  boy's  full  share  of  the  little  beast 
and  the  young  monkey  in  his  natural  composi- 
tion) was  none  the  worse,  at  his  tender  years,  for 
learning  some  maidenliness— so  far  as  maiden- 
liness  means  decency,  pity,  unselfishness,  and 
pretty  behavior. 

And  it  is  due  to  him  to  say  that  he  was  an 
obedient  boy,  and  a  boy  whose  word  could  be 
depended  on,  long  before  his  grandfather,  the 
General,  came  to  live  at  the  Green. 

He  was  obedient ;  that  is,  he  did  what  his  great- 
aunt  told  him.  But— oh,  dear!  oh,  dear!— the 
pranks  he  played,  which  it  had  never  entered  into 
her  head  to  forbid! 

It  was  when  he  had  just  been  put  into  skele- 
tons (frocks  never  suited  him)  that  he  became 
very    friendly    with    Master    Tony    Johnson,    a 

30 


JACKANAPES 

younger  brother  of  the  young  gentleman  who  sat 
in  the  puddle  on  purpose.  Tony  was  not  enter- 
prising, and  Jackanapes  led  him  by  the  nose. 
One  summer's  evening  they  were  out  late,  and 
Miss    Jessamine    was    becoming-    anxious,    when 


"VERY    FRIENDLY    WITH    TONY    JOHNSON." 

Jackanapes  presented  himself  with  a  ghastly  face 
all  besmirched  with  tears.  He  was  unusually 
subdued. 

"I'm  afraid,"  he  sobbed;  "if  you  please,  I'm 
very  much  afraid  that  Tony  Johnson's  dying  in 
the  churchyard." 

3i 


JACKANAPES 


Miss  Jessamine  was  just  beginning  to  be  dis- 
tracted, when  she  smelled  Jackanapes. 

"You  naughty,  naughty  boys!  Do  you  mean 
to  tell  me  you  Ve  been  smoking?" 

"Not  pipes,"  urged  Jackanapes;  "upon  my 
honor,  Aunty,  not  pipes.  Only  cigars,  like  Mr. 
Johnson's!  and  only  made  of  brown  paper  with 
a  very,  very  little  tobacco  from  the  shop  inside 
them. ' ' 

Whereupon,  Miss  Jessamine  sent  a  serv- 
ant to  the  churchyard,  who  found  Tony 
Johnson  lying  on  a  tombstone,  very  sick,  and 
having  ceased  to  entertain  any  hopes  of  his  own 
recovery. 

If  it  could  be  possible  that  any  "unpleasant- 
ness" could  arise  between  two  such  amiable 
neighbors  as  Miss  Jessamine  and  Mrs.  Johnson 
—and  if  the  still  more  incredible  paradox  can  be 
that  ladies  may  differ  over  a  point  on  which  they 
are  agreed— that  point  was  the  admitted  fact  that 
Tony  Johnson  was  "delicate,"  and  the  differ- 
ence lay  chiefly  in  this:  Mrs.  Johnson  said  that 
Tony  was  delicate— meaning  that  he  was  more 
finely  strung,  more  sensitive,  a  properer  subject 

32 


JACKANAPES 

for  pampering  and  petting  than  Jackanapes,  and 
that,  consequently,  Jackanapes  was  to  blame  for 
leading  Tony  into  scrapes  which  resulted  in  his 
being  chilled,  frightened,  or  (most  frequently) 
sick.  But  when  Miss  Jessamine  said  that  Tony 
Johnson  was  delicate,  she  meant  that  he  was 
more  puling,  less  manly,  and~  less  healthily 
brought  up  than  Jackanapes,  who,  when  they  got 
into  mischief  together,  was  certainly  not  to  blame 
because  his  friend  could  not  get  wet,  sit  a  kicking 
donkey,  ride  in  the  giddy-go-round,  bear  the 
noise  of  a  cracker,  or  smoke  brown  paper  with 
impunity,  as  he  could. 

Not  that  there  was  ever  the  slightest  quarrel 
between  the  ladies.  It  never  even  came  near 
it,  except  the  day  after  Tony  had  been  so 
very  sick  with  riding  Bucephalus  in  the  giddy- 
go-round.  Mrs.  Johnson  had  explained  to  Miss 
Jessamine  that  the  reason  Tony  was  so  easily 
upset  was  the  unusual  sensitiveness  (as  a  doctor 
had  explained  it  to  her)  of  the  nervous  centres 
in  her  family— "Fiddlestick!"  So  Mrs.  Johnson 
understood  Miss  Jessamine  to  say,  but  it  ap- 
peared that  she  only  said  "  Treaclestick ! "  which 

3— Jackanapes.  33 


JACKANAPES 

is  quite  another  tiling,  and  of  which  Tony  was 
undoubtedly  fond. 

It  was  at  the  Fair  that  Tony  was  made  ill  by 
riding  on  Bucephalus.  Once  a  year  the  Goose 
Green  became  the  scene  of  a  carnival.  First  of 
all,  carts  and  caravans  were  rumbling  up  all 
along,  day  and  night.  Jackanapes  could  hear 
them  as  he  lay  in  bed,  and  could  hardly  sleep 
for  speculating  what  booths  and  whirligigs  he 
should  find  fairly  established,  when  he  and  his 
dog  Spitfire  went  out  after  breakfast.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  seldom  had  to  wait  so  long  for 
news  of  the  Fair.  The  Postman  knew  the  win- 
dow out  of  which  Jackanapes 's  yellow  head  would 
come,  and  was  ready  with  his  report. 

"  Royal  Theayter,  Master  Jackanapes,  in  the 
old  place,  but  be  careful  o'  them  seats,  sir;  they 
're  rickettier  than  ever.  Two  sweets  and  a 
ginger-beer  under  the  oak  tree,  and  the  Flying 
Boats  is  just  a-coming  along  the  road." 

No  doubt  it  was  partly  because  he  had  already 
suffered  severely  in  the  Flying  Boats,  that  Tony 
collapsed  so  quickly  in  the  giddy-go-round.  He 
only  mounted  Bucephalus  (who  was  spotted  and 

34 


JACKANAPES 

had  no  tail)  because  Jackanapes  urged  him,  and 
held  out  the  ingenious  hope  that  the  round-and- 
round  feeling  would  very  likely  cure  the  up-and- 
down  sensation.  It  did  not,  however,  and  Tony 
tumbled  off  during  the  first  revolution. 


"DURING   THE    FIRST    ROUND    HE   WAVED    HIS    HAT." 

Jackanapes  was  not  absolutely  free  from 
qualms,  but  having  once  mounted  the  Black 
Prince  he  stuck  to  him  as  a  horseman  should. 
During  the  first  round  he  waved  his  hat,  and 
observed  with  some  concern  that  the  Black 
Prince  had  lost  an  ear  since  last  Fair;   at  the 

35 


JACKANAPES 

second,  he  looked  a  little  pale,  but  sat  upright, 
though  somewhat  unnecessarily  rigid;  at  the 
third  round  he  shut  his  eyes.  During  the  fourth 
his  hat  fell  off,  and  he  clasped  his  horse's  neck. 
By  the  fifth  he  had  laid  his  yellow  head  against 
the  Black  Prince's  mane,  and  so  clung  anyhow 
till  the  hobby-horses  stopped,  when  the  pro- 
prietor assisted  him  to  alight,  and  he  sat  down 
rather  suddenly  and  said  he  had  enjoyed  it  very 
much. 

The  Gray  Goose  always  ran  away  at  the  first 
approach  of  the  caravans,  and  never  came  back 
to  the  Green  until  there  was  nothing  left  of  the 
Fair  but  footmarks  and  oyster-shells.  Running 
away  was  her  pet  principle;  the  only  system,  she 
maintained,  by  which  you  can  live  long  and 
easily,  and  lose  nothing.  If  you  run  away  when 
you  see  danger,  you  can  come  back  when  all  is 
safe.  Bun  quickly,  return  slowly,  hold  your 
head  high,  and  gabble  as  loud  as  you  can,  and 
you  '11  preserve  the  respect  of  the  Goose  Green 
to  a  peaceful  old  age.  Why  should  you  struggle 
and  get  hurt,  if  you  can  lower  your  head  and 
swerve,   and  not  lose   a  feather!      Why  in  the 

36 


JACKANAPES 

world  should  anyone  spoil  the  pleasure  of  life, 
or  risk  his  skin,  if  he  can  help  it? 

"'What's  the  use?' 
Said  the  Goose.'" 

Before  answering  which,  one  might  have  to  con- 
sider what  world— which  life— and  whether  his 
skin  were  a  goose-skin;  but  the  Gray  Goose's 
head  would  never  have  held  all  that. 

Grass  soon  grows  over  footprints,  and  the  vil- 
lage children  took  the  oyster-shells  to  trim  their 
gardens  with;  but  the  year  after  Tony  rode 
Bucephalus  there  lingered  another  relic  of  Fair- 
time,  in  which  Jackanapes  was  deeply  interested. 
"The  Green''  proper  was  originally  only  part  of 
a  straggling  common,  which  in  it's  turn  merged 
into  some  wilder  waste  land  where  gipsies  some- 
times squatted  if  the  authorities  would  allow 
them,  especially  after  the  annual  Fair.  And  it 
was  after  the  Fair  that  Jackanapes,  out  rambling 
by  himself,  was  knocked  over  by  the  Gipsy's  son 
riding  the  Gipsy's  red-haired  pony  at  break-neck 
pace  across  the  common.  » 

Jackanapes  got  up  and  shook  himself,  none  the 

37 


JACKANAPES 

worse,  except  for  being  heels  over  head  in  love 
with  the  red-haired  pony.  What  a  rate  he  went 
at !  How  he  spurned  the  ground  with  his  nimble 
feet!  How  his  red  coat  shone  in  the  sunshine! 
And  what  bright  eyes  peeped  out  of  his  dark  fore- 
lock as  it  was  blown  by  the  wind! 

The  Gipsy  boy  had  had  a  fright,  and  he  was 
willing  enough  to  reward  Jackanapes  for  not 
having  been  hurt,  by  consenting  to  let  him  have 
a  ride. 

"Do  you  mean  to  kill  the  little  fine  gentleman, 
and  swing  us  all  on  the  gibbet,  you  rascal?" 
screamed  the  Gipsy-mother,  who  came  up  just 
as  Jackanapes  and  the  pony  set  off. 

"He  would  get  on,"  replied  her  son.  "It  '11 
not  kill  him.  He  '11  fall  on  his  yellow  head,  and 
it's  as  tough  as  a  cocoanut." 

But  Jackanapes  did  not  fall.'  He  stuck  to  the 
red-haired  pony  as  he  stuck  to  the  hobby-horse; 
but  oh!  how  different  the  delight  of  this  wild 
gallop  with  flesh  and  blood!  Just  as  his  legs 
were  beginning  to  feel  as  if  he  did  not  feel  them, 
the  Gipsy  boy  cried,  "Lollo!"  Round  went  the 
pony  so  unceremoniously,  that,  with  as  little  cere- 

38 


J  A  C  K  A  N  A  P  E  S 

mony,  Jackanapes  clung  to  his  neck,  and  he  did 
not  properly  recover  himself  before  Lollo  stopped 
with  a  jerk  at  the  place  where  they  had  started. 

"Is  his  name  Lollo?"  asked  Jackanapes,  his 
hand  lingering  in  the  wiry  mane. 

"Yes." 

"What  does  Lollo  mean?" 

"Bed." 

"Is  Lollo  your  pony?" 

"No.  My  father's."  And  the  Gipsy  boy  led 
Lollo  away. 

At  the  first  opportunity  Jackanapes  stole  away 
again  to  the  common.  This  time  he  saw  the 
Gipsy-father,  smoking  a  dirty  pipe. 

"Lollo  is  your  pony,  is  n't  he?"  said  Jacka- 
napes. 

"Yes." 

"He's  a  very  nice  one." 

"He's  a  racer." 

"You  don't  want  to  sell  him,  do  you?" 

" Fifteen  pounds,"  said  the  Gipsy-father;  and 
Jackanapes  sighed  and  went  home  again.  That 
very  afternoon  he  and  Tony  rode  the  two  donkeys, 
and    Tony   managed   to    get   thrown,    and    even 

39 


JACKANAPES 

Jackanapes'  donkey  kicked.  But  it  was  jolting, 
clumsy  work  after  the  elastic  swiftness  and  the 
dainty  mischief  of  the  red-haired  pony. 

A  few  days  later,  Miss  Jessamine  spoke  very 
seriously  to  Jackanapes.  She  was  a  good  deal 
agitated  as  he  told  him  that  his  grandfather,  the 
General,  was  coming  to  the  Green,  and  that  he 
must  be  on  his  very  best  behavior  during  the 
visit.  If  it  had  been  feasible  to  leave  off  calling 
him  Jackanapes  and  to  get  used  to  his  baptismal 
name  of  Theodore  before  the  day  after  to-morrow 
(when  the  General  was  due),  it  would  have  been 
satisfactory.  But  Miss  Jessamine  feared  it  would 
be  impossible  in  practice,  and  she  had  scruples 
about  it  on  principle.  It  would  not  seem  quite 
truthful,  although  she  had  always  most  fully  in- 
tended that  he  should  be  called  Theodore  when 
he  had  outgrown  the  ridiculous  appropriateness 
of  his  nickname.  The  fact  was  that  he  had  not 
outgrown  it,  but  he  must  take  care  to  remember 
who  was  meant  when  his  grandfather  said 
Theodore. 

Indeed,  for  that  matter,  he  must  take  care  all 
along. 

40 


JACKANAPES 

"You  are  apt  to  be  giddy,  Jackanapes,"  said 
Miss  Jessamine. 

"Yes,  Aunt,"  said  Jackanapes,  thinking  of  the 
hobby-horses. 

"You  are  a  good  boy,  Jackanapes.  Thank  God, 
I  can  tell  your  grandfather  that.  An  obedient 
boy,  an  honorable  boy,  and  a  kind-hearted  boy. 
But  you  are— in  short,  you  are  a  Boy,  Jacka- 
napes. And  I  hope"— added  Miss  Jessamine, 
desperate  with  the  results  of  experience— "that 
the  General  knows  that  Boys  will  be  Boys." 

What  mischief  could  be  foreseen,  Jackanapes 
promised  to  guard  against.  He  was  to  keep  his 
clothes  and  his  hands  clean,  to  look  over  his  cate- 
chism, not  to  put  sticky  things  in  his  pockets,  to 
keep  that  hair  of  his  smooth— ("It's  the  wind 
that  blows  it,  Aunty,"  said  Jackanapes — "I'll 
send  by  the  coach  for  some  bear's-grease, "  said 
Miss  Jessamine,  tying  a  knot  in  her  pocket- 
handkerchief)— not  to  burst  in  at  the  parlor  door, 
not  to  talk  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  not  to  crumple 
his  Sunday  frill,  and  to  sit  quite  quiet  during  the 
sermon,  to  be  sure  to  say  "sir"  to  the  General, 
to  be  careful  about  rubbing  his  shoes  on  the  door- 

4i 


JACKANAPES 

mat,  and  to  bring  his  lesson-books  to  his  aunt  at 
once  that  she  might  iron  down  the  dogs '-ears. 
The  General  arrived,  and  for  the  first  day  all 
went  well,  except  that  Jackanapes'  hair  was  as 
wild  as  usual,  for  the  hairdresser  had  no  bear's- 
grease  left.  He  began  to  feel  more  at  ease  with 
his  grandfather,  and  disposed  to  talk  confiden- 
tially with  him,  as  he  did  with  the  Postman.  All 
that  the  General  felt  it  would  take  too  long  to  tell, 
but  the  result  was  the  same.  He  was  disposed  to 
talk  confidentially  with  Jackanapes. 

"Mons'ous  pretty  place  this,"  he  said,  looking 
out  of  the  lattice  onto  the  Green,  where  the  Grass 
was  vivid  with  sunset,  and  the  shadows  were  long 
and  peaceful. 

"You  should  see  it  in  Fair-week,  sir,"  said 
Jackanapes,  shaking  his  yellow  mop,  and  leaning 
back  in  his  one  of  the  two  Chippendale  arm- 
chairs in  which  they  sat. 

"A  fine  time  that,  eh!"  said  the  General,  with 
a  twinkle,  in  his  left  eye.     (The  other  was  glass.) 

Jackanapes  shook  his  hair  one  more.  "I  en- 
joyed this  last  one  the  best  of  all,"  he  said.  "I  'd 
so  much  money. ' ' 

42 


JACKANAPES 


"By  George,  it  's  not  a  common  complaint  in 
these  bad  times.     How  mnch  had  ye!" 

"I  'd  two  shillings.  A  new  shilling  Aunty  gave 
me,  and  elevenpence  I  had  saved  up,  and  a  penny 


"  *  YOU   SHOULD    SEE   IT   IN    FAIR-WEEK,    SIR 


from  the  Postman— sir!"  added  Jackanapes  with 
a  jerk,  having  forgotten  it. 

"And  how  did  ye  spend  it— sir?"  inquired  the 
General. 

43 


JACKANAPES 

Jackanapes  spread  his  ten  fingers  on  the  arms 
of  his  chair,  and  shut  his  eyes  that  he  might  count 
the  more  conscientiously. 

"Watch-stand  for  Aunty,  threepence.  Trum- 
pet for  myself,  twopence,  that's  fivepence. 
Ginger-nuts  for  Tony,  twopence,  and  a  mug  with 
a  Grenadier  on  for  the  Postman,  fourpence,  that's 
elevenpence.  Shooting-gallery,  a  penny,  that's  a 
shilling.  Giddy-go-round,  a  penny,  that's  one 
and  a  penny.  Treating  Tony,  one  and  twopence. 
Flying  Boats  (Tony  paid  for  himself),  a  penny, 
one  and  threepence.  Shooting-gallery  again,  one 
and  fourpence.  Fat  Woman,  a  penny,  one  and 
fivepence.  Giddy-go-round  again,  one  and  six- 
pence. Shooting-gallery,  one  and  sevenpence. 
Treating  Tony,  and  then  he  wouldn't  shoot,  so  I 
did,  one  and  eightpence.  Living  Skeleton,  a 
penny— no,  Tony  treated  me,  the  Living  Skeleton 
doesn't  count.  Skittles,  a  penny,  one  and  nine- 
pence.  Mermaid  (but  when  we  got  inside  she 
was  dead),  a  penny,  one  and  tenpence.  Theatre, 
a  penny  (Priscilla  Partington,  or  the  Green  Lane 
Murder.  A  beautiful  young  lady,  sir,  with  pink 
cheeks  and  a  real  pistol),  that's  one  and  eleven- 

44 


JACKANAPES 

pence.  Ginger  beer,  a  penny  (I  was  so  thirsty!) 
two  shillings.  And  then  the  Shooting-gallery 
man  gave  me  a  turn  for  nothing,  because,  he 
said,  I  was  a  real  gentleman,  and  spent  my 
money  like  a  man." 

1 '  So  yon  do,  sir,  so  yon  do ! "  cried  the  General. 
"Why,  sir,  yon  spend  it  like  a  prince.  And  now 
I  suppose  you  Ve  not  got  a  penny  in  your 
pocket?" 

"Yes,  I  have,"  said  Jackanapes.  "Two 
pennies.  They  are  saving  up."  And  Jacka- 
napes jingled  them  with  his  hand. 

"You  don't  want  money  except  at  fair-times, 
I  suppose!"  said  the  General. 

Jackanapes  shook  his  mop. 

"If  I  could  have  as  much  as  I  want,  I  should 
know  what  to  buy,"  said  he. 

"And  how  much  do  you  want,  if  you  could  get 
it?" 

"Wait  a  minute,  sir,  till  I  think  what  twopence 
from  fifteen  pounds  leaves.  Two  from  nothing 
you  can't,  but  borrow  twelve.  Two  from  twelve, 
ten,  and  carry  one.  Please  remember  ten,  sir, 
when  I  ask  you.      One  from  nothing  you  can't, 

45 


JACKANAPES 

borrow  twenty.  One  from  twenty,  nineteen,  and 
carry  one.  One  from  fifteen,  fourteen.  Four- 
teen pounds  nineteen  and— what  did  I  tell  you  to 
remember ! ' ' 

' '  Ten, ' '  said  the  General. 

"Fourteen  pounds  nineteen  shillings  and  ten- 
pence,  then,  is  what  I  want,"  said  Jackanapes. 

"Bless,  my  soul,  what  for?" 

"To  buy  Lollo  with.  Lollo  means  red,  sir. 
The  Gipsy's  red-haired  pony,  sir.  Oh,  he  is 
beautiful!  You  should  see  his  coat  in  the  sun- 
shine! You  should  see  his  mane!  You  should 
see  his  tail!  Such  little  feet,  sir,  and  they  go 
like  lightning!  Such  a  dear  face,  too,  and  eyes 
like  a  mouse!  But  he's  a  racer,  and  the  Gipsy 
wants  fifteen  pounds  for  him." 

"If  he's  a  racer,  you  couldn't  ride  him.  Could 
you!" 

"No— o,  sir,  but  I  can  stick  to  him.  I  did  the 
other  day." 

"You  did,  did  you?  Well,  I'm  fond  of  riding, 
myself,  and  if  the  beast  is  as  good  as  you  say, 
he  might  suit  me. ' ' 

"You're    too    tall    for    Lollo,    I    think,"    said 

46 


JACKANAPES 

Jackanapes,  measuring  his  grandfather  with  his 
eye. 

"I  can  double  up  my  legs,  I  suppose.  We'll 
have  a  look  at  him  to-morrow. ' ' 

" Don't  you  weigh  a  good  deal?"  asked  Jacka- 
napes. 

"Chiefly  waistcoats,"  said  the  General,  slap- 
ping the  breast  of  his  military  frock-coat. 
' '  We  '11  have  the  little  racer  on  the  Green  the  first 
thing  in  the  morning.  Glad  you  mentioned  it, 
grandson.     Glad  you  mentioned  it. ' ' 

The  General  was  as  good  as  his  word.  Next 
morning,  the  Gipsy  and  Lollo,  Miss  Jessamine, 
Jackanapes,  and  his  Grandfather,  and  his  dog, 
Spitfire,  were  all  gathered  at  one  end  of  the 
Green  in  a  group,  which  so  aroused  the  innocent 
curiosity  of  Mrs.  Johnson,  as  she  saw  it  from  one 
of  her  upper  windows,  that  she  and  the  children 
took  their  early  promenade  rather  earlier  than 
usual.  The  General  talked  to  the  Gipsy,  and 
Jackanapes  fondled  Lollo 's  mane,  and  did  not 
know  whether  he  should  be  more  glad  or  miser- 
able if  his  grandfather  bought  him. 

' '  Jackanapes ! ' ' 

47 


JACKANAPES 

"Yes,  sir!" 

"I've  bought  Lollo,  but  I  believe  you  were 
right.  He  hardly  stands  high  enough  for  me.  If 
you  can  ride  him  to  the  other  end  of  the  Green, 
I  '11  give  him  to  you." 

How  Jackanapes  tumbled  on  to  Lollo 's  back 
he  never  knew.  He  had  just  gathered  up  the 
reins  when  the  Gipsy-father  took  him  by  the  arm. 

"If  you  want  to  make  Lollo  go  fast,  my  little 
gentleman—  " 

"Z  can  make  him  go!"  said  Jackanapes,  and 
drawing  from  his  pocket  the  trumpet  he  had 
bought  in  the  fair,  he  blew  a  Wast  both  loud  and 
shrill. 

Away  went  Lollo,  and  away  went  Jackanapes's 
hat.  His  golden  hair  flew  out,  an  aureole  from 
which  his  cheeks  shone  red  and  distended  with 
trumpeting.  Away  went  Spitfire,  mad  with  the 
rapture  of  the  race,  and  the  wind  in  his  silky 
ears.  Away  went  the  geese,  the  cocks,  the  hens, 
and  the  whole  family  of  Johnson.  Lucy  clung 
to  her  mamma,  Jane  saved  Emily  by  the  gathers 
of  her  gown,  and  Tony  saved  himself  by  a  somer- 
sault. 

48 


JACKANAPES 

The  Gray  Goose  was  just  returning  when 
Jackanapes  and  Lollo  rode  back,  Spitfire  panting 
behind. 

"Good,  my  little  gentleman,  good!"  said  the 
Gipsy.     "You  were  born  to  the  saddle.    You've 


"<I    CAN    MAKE    HIM    GO,'   SAID   JACKANAPES. 


the  flat  thigh,  the  strong  knee,  the  wiry  back,  and 
the  light,  caressing  hand;  all  you  want  is  to  learn 
the  whisper.     Come  here!" 

"What  was  that  dirty  fellow  talking  about, 
grandson?"  asked  the  General. 

"I  can't  tell  you,  sir.     It  's  a  secret." 

4 — Jackanapes.  49 


JACKANAPES 

They  were  sitting  in  the  window  again,  in  the 
two  Chippendale  arm-chairs,  the  General  devour- 
ing every  line  of  his  grandson 's  face,  with  strange 
spasms  crossing  his  own. 

"You  must  love  your  aunt  very  much,  Jacka- 
napes ? ' ' 

"I  do,  sir,"  said  Jackanapes,  warmly. 

"And  whom  do  you  love  next  best  to  your 
aunt!" 

The  ties  of  blood  were  pressing  very  strongly 
on  the  General  himself,  and  perhaps  he  thought 
of  Lollo.  But  Love  is  not  bought  in  a  day,  even 
with  fourteen  pounds  nineteen  shillings  and  ten- 
pence.  Jackanapes  answered  quite  readily, 
"The  Postman." 

"Why  the  Postman?" 

"He  knew  my  father,"  said  Jackanapes,  "and 
he  tells  me  about  him,  and  about  his  black  mare. 
My  father  was  a  soldier,  a  brave  soldier.  He 
died  at  Waterloo.  When  I  grow  up  I  want  to  be 
a  soldier,  too." 

"So  you  shall,  my  boy.     So  you  shall." 

"Thank  you,  grandfather.  Aunty  does  n't 
want  me  to  be  a  soldier  for  fear  of  being  killed." 

5o 


J  A CKANAPES 

" Bless  my  life!  Would  she  have  you  get  into 
a  feather-bed  and  stay  there?  Why,  you  might 
be  killed  by  a  thunderbolt,  if  you  were  a  butter- 
merchant  ! ' ' 

^So  I  might.  I  shall  tell  her  so.  What  a 
funny  fellow  you  are,  sir!  I  say,  do  you  think 
my  father  knew  the  Gipsy's  secret?  The  Post- 
man says  he  used  to  whisper  to  his  black  mare." 

' '  Your  father  was  taught  to  ride  as  a  child,  by 
one  of  those  horsemen  of  the  East  who  swoop 
and  dart  and  wheel  about  a  plain  like  swallows 
in  autumn.  Grandson!  Love  me  a  little,  too. 
I  can  tell  you  more  about  your  father  than  the 
Postman  can. ' ' 

UI  do  love  you, "  said  Jackanapes.  "Before 
you  came  I  was  frightened.  I  'd  no  notion  you 
were  so  nice." 

"Love  me  always,  boy,  whatever  I  do  or  leave 
undone.  And— God  help  me — whatever  you  do 
or  leave  undone,  I  '11  love  you!  There  shall 
never  be  a  cloud  between  us  for  a  day;  no,  sir, 
not  for  an  hour.  We  're  imperfect  enough,  all  of 
us,  we  need  n't  be  so  bitter;  and  life  is  uncertain 
enough  at  its  safest,  we  need  n't  waste  its  oppor- 

5i 


JACKANAPES 

tunities.  Look  at  me!  Here  sit  I,  after  a  dozen 
battles  and  some  of  the  worst  climates  in  the 
world,  and  by  yonder  lych  gate  lies  your  mother, 
who  did  n't  move  five  miles,  I  suppose,  from  your 
aunt's  apron-strings,— dead  in  her  teens;  my 
golden-haired  daughter,  whom  I  never  saw." 

Jackanapes  was  terribly  troubled. 

"Don't  cry,  grandfather,"  he  pleaded,  his  own 
blue  eyes  round  with  tears.  "I  will  love  you 
very  much,  and  I  will  try  to  be  very  good.  But 
I  should  like  to  be  a  soldier." 

"You  shall,  my  boy,  you  shall.  You  've  more 
claims  for  a  commission  than  you  know  of. 
Cavalry,  I  suppose,  eh,  ye  young  Jackanapes? 
Well,  well;  if  you  live  to  be  an  honor  to  your 
country,  this  old  heart  shall  grow  young  again 
with  pride  for  you;  and  if  you  die  in  the  service 
of  your  country— God  bless  me,  it  can  but  break 
for  ye." 

And  beating  the  region  which  he  said  was  all 
waistcoats,  as  if  they  stifled  him,  the  old  man  got 
up  and  strode  out  onto  the  Green. 

52 


CHAPTER  IV 

TWENTY    and    odd    years    later    the    Gray 
Goose  was  still  alive,  and  in  full  posses- 
sion of  her  faculties,  such  as  they  were. 
She   lived   slowly   and   carefully,    and   she   lived 
long.     So  did  Miss  Jessamine;  but  the  General 
was  dead. 

He  had  lived  on  the  Green  for  many  years, 
during  which  he  and  the  Postman  saluted  each 
other  with  a  punctiliousness  that  it  almost  drilled 
one  to  witness.  He  would  have  completely 
spoiled  Jackanapes  if  Miss  Jessamine's  con- 
science would  have  let  him;  otherwise  he  some- 
what dragooned  his  neighbors,  and  was  as  posi- 
tive about  parish  matters  as  a  ratepayer  about 
the  army.  A  stormy-tempered,  tender-hearted 
soldier,  irritable  with  the  suffering  of  wounds  of 
which  he  never  spoke,  whom  all  the  village  fol- 
lowed to  his  grave  with  tears. 

53 


JACKANAPES 

The  General's  death  was  a  great  shock  to  Miss 
Jessamine,  and  her  nephew  stayed  with  her  for 
some  little  time  after  the  funeral.  Then  he  was 
obliged  to  join  his  regiment,  which  was  ordered 
abroad. 

One  effect  of  the  conquest  which  the  General 
had  gained  over  the  affections  of  the  village  was 
a  considerable  abatement  of  the  popular  preju- 
dice against  ' '  the  military. ' '  Indeed,  the  village 
was  now  somewhat  importantly  represented  in 
the  army.  There  was  the  General  himself,  and 
the  Postman,  and  the  Black  Captain's  tablet  in 
the  church,  and  Jackanapes,  and  Tony  Johnson, 
and  a  Trumpeter. 

Tony  Johnson  had  no  more  natural  taste  for 
fighting  than  for  riding,  but  he  was  as  devoted  as 
ever  to  Jackanapes,  and  that  was  how  it  came 
about  that  Mr.  Johnson  bought  him  a  commission 
in  the  same  cavalry  regiment  that  the  General's 
grandson  (whose  commission  had  been  given  him 
by  the  Iron  Duke)  was  in,  and  that  he  was  quite 
content  to  be  the  butt  of  the  mess  where  Jacka- 
napes was  the  hero ;  and  that  when  Jackanapes 
wrote  home  to  Miss  Jessamine,  Tony  wrote  with 

54 


JACKANAPES 

the  same  purpose  to  his  mother;  namely,  to  de- 
mand her  congratulations  that  they  were  on 
active  service  at  last,  and  were  ordered  to  the 
front.      And  he  added  a  postscript  to  the  effect 


w 


"HE    AND    THE    POSTMAN    SALUTED    EACH    OTHER.' : 


that  she  could  have  no  idea  how  popular  Jacka- 
napes was,  nor  how  splendidly  he  rode  the  won- 
derful red  charger  whom  he  had  named  after  his 
old  friend  Lollo. 


55 


JACKANAPES 

"Sound  Retire !" 

A  Boy  Trumpeter,  grave  with  the  weight  of 
responsibilities  and  accoutrements  beyond  his 
years,  and  stained,  so  that  his  own  mother  would 
not  have  known  him,  with  the  sweat  and  dust  of 
battle,  did  as  he  was  bid;  and  then  pushing  his 
trumpet  pettishly  aside,  adjusted  his  weary  legs 
for  the  hundredth  time  to  the  horse  which  was  a 
world  too  big  for  him,  and  muttering,  "  'Taint 
a  pretty  tune, ' '  tried  to  see  something  of  this,  his 
first  engagement,  before  it  came  to  an  end. 

Being  literally  in  the  thick  of  it,  he  could  hardly 
have  seen  less  or  known  less  of  what  happened 
in  that  particular  skirmish  if  he  had  been  at 
home  in  England.  For  many  good  reasons;  in- 
cluding dust  and  smoke,  and  that  what  attention 
he  dared  distract  from  his  commanding  officer 
was  pretty  well  absorbed  by  keeping  his  hard- 
mouthed  troop-horse  in  hand,  under  pain  of  ex- 
ecration by  his  neighbors  in  the  melee.  By-and  • 
by,  when  the  newspapers  came  out,  if  he  could 
get  a  look  at  one  before  it  was  thumbed  to  bits, 
he  would  learn  that  the  enemy  had  appeared 
from  ambush  in  overwhelming  numbers,  and  that 

56 


JACKANAPES 

orders  had  been  given  to  fall  back,  which  was 
done  slowly  and  in  good  order,  the  men  fighting 
as  they  retired. 

Born  and  bred  on  the  Goose  Green,  the  yonngest 


A   BOY    TRUMPETER,    GRAVE   BEYOND    HIS    YEARS." 


of  Mr.  Johnson's  gardener's  numerous  offspring, 
the  boy  had  given  his  family  ' '  no  peace ' '  till  they 
let  him  "go  for  a  soldier"  with  Master  Tony  and 
Master  Jackanapes.  They  consented  at  last,  with 
more  tears  than  they   shed  when   an   elder   son 

57 


JACKANAPES 

was  sent  to  jail  for  poaching,  and  the  boy  was 
IDerfectly  happy  in  his  life,  and  full  of  esprit  de 
corps.  It  was  this  which  had  been  wounded  by 
having  to  sound  retreat  for  "the  young  gentle- 
men's regiment,"  the  first  time  he  served  with 
it  before  the  enemy,  and  he  was  also  har- 
assed by  having  completely  lost  sight  of  Master 
Tony.  There  had  been  some  hard  fighting  be- 
fore the  backward  movement  began,  and  he  had 
caught  sight  of  him  once,  but  not  since.  On  the 
other  hand,  all  the  pulses  of  his  village  pride  had 
been  stirred  by  one  or  two  visions  of  Master 
Jackanapes  whirling  about  on  his  wonderful 
horse.  He  had  been  easy  to  distinguish  since  an 
eccentric  blow  had  bared  his  head  without  hurt- 
ing it,  for  his  close  golden  mop  of  hair  gleamed 
in  the  hot  sunshine  as  brightly  as  the  steel  of  the 
sword  flashing  round  it. 

Of  the  missiles  that  fell  pretty  thickly,  the  Boy 
Trumpeter  did  not  take  much  notice.  First,  one 
can't  attend  to  everything,  and  his  hands  were 
full.  Secondly,  one  gets  used  to  anything. 
Thirdly,  experience  soon  teaches  one,  in  spite  of 
proverbs,  how  very  few  bullets  find  their  billet. 

58 


JACKANAPES 

Far  more  unnerving  is  the  mere  suspicion  of  fear 
or  even  of  anxiety  in  the  human  mass  around 
you.  The  Boy  was  beginning  to  wonder  if  there 
were  any  dark  reason  for  the  increasing  pres- 
sure, and  whether  they  would  be  allowed  to  move 
back  more  quickly,  when  the  smoke  in  front  lifted 
for  a  moment,  and  he  could  see  the  plain,  and  the 
enemy's  line  some  two  hundred  yards  away. 

And  across  the  plain  between  them,  he  saw 
Master  Jackanapes  galloping  alone  at  the  top  of 
Lollo's  speed,  their  faces  to  the  enemy,  his  golden 
head  at  Lollo's  ear. 

But  at  this  moment  the  noise  and  smoke  seemed 
to  burst  out  on  every  side,  the  officer  shouted  to 
him  to  sound  retire,  and  between  trumpeting  and 
bumping  about  on  his  horse,  he  saw  and  heard 
no  more  of  the  incidents  of  his  first  battle. 

Tony  Johnson  was  always  unlucky  with  horses, 
from  the  days  of  the  giddy-go-round  onwards. 
On  this  day— of  all  days  in  the  year— his  own 
horse  was  on  the  sick  list,  and  he  had  to  ride  an 
inferior,  ill-conditioned  beast,  and  fell  off  that,  at 
the  very  moment  when  it  was  a  matter  of  life  or 
death  to  be  able  to  ride  away.     The  horse  fell  on 

59 


JACKANAPES 

him,  but  struggled  up  again,  and  Tony  managed 
to  keep  hold  of  it.  It  was  in  trying  to  remount 
that  he  discovered,  by  helplessness  and  anguish, 
that  one  of  his  legs  was  crushed  and  broken,  and 
that  no  feat  of  which  he  was  master  would  get 
him  into  the  saddle.  Not  able  even  to  stand 
alone,  awkwardly,  agonizingly  unable  to  mount 
his  restive  horse,  his  life  was  yet  so  strong 
within  him!  And  on  one  side  of  him  rolled  the 
dust  and  smoke-cloud  of  his  advancing  foes,  and 
on  the  other,  that  which  covered  his  retreating 
friends. 

He  turned  one  piteous  gaze  after  them,  with  a 
bitter  twinge,  not  of  reproach,  but  of  loneliness; 
and  then,  dragging  himself  up  by  the  side  of  his 
horse,  he  turned  the  other  way  and  drew  out  his 
pistol,  and  waited  for  the  end.  "Whether  he 
waited  seconds  or  minutes  he  never  knew,  before 
some  one  gripped  kirn  by  the  arm. 

"Jackanapes!  God  bless  you!  It's  my  left 
leg.      If  you  could  get  me  on—" 

It  was  like  Tony's  luck  that  his  pistol  went  off 
at  his  horse's  tail,  and  made  it  plunge;  but 
Jackanapes  threw  him  across  the  saddle. 

60 


JACKANAPES 

"Hold  on  anyhow,  and  stick  your  spur  in.  I'll 
lead  him.  Keep  your  head  down,  they're  firing 
high." 

And  Jackanapes  laid  his  head  down— to  Lollo  's 
ear. 

It  was  when  they  were  fairly  oif,  that  a  sudden 
upspringing  of  the  enemy  in  all  directions  had 
made  it  necessary  to  change  the  gradual  retire- 
ment of  our  force  into  as  rapid  a  retreat  as 
possible.  And  when  Jackanapes  became  aware 
of  this,  and  felt  the  lagging  and  swerving  of 
Tony's  horse,  he  began  to  wish  he  had  thrown 
his  friend  across  his  own  saddle,  and  left  their 
lives  to  Lollo. 

When  Tony  became  aware  of  it,  several  things 
came  into  his  head.  1.  That  the  dangers  of 
their  ride  for  life  were  now  more  than  doubled. 

2.  That  if  Jackanapes  and  Lollo  were  not  bur- 
dened with  him  they  would  undoubtedly  escape. 

3.  That  Jackanapes's  life  was  infinitely  valuable, 
and  his— Tony's— was  not.  4.  That  this— if  he 
could  seize  it— was  the  supremest  of  all  the  mo- 
ments in  which  he  had  tried  to  assume  the  virtues 
which  Jackanapes  had  by  nature ;  and  that  now— 

6i 


JACKANAPES 

He  caught  at  his  own  reins  and  spoke  very 
loud— 

"Jackanapes!  It  won't  do.  You  and  Lollo 
must  go  on.  Tell  the  fellows  I  gave  you  back  to 
them,  with  all  my  heart.  Jackanapes,  if  you 
love  me,  leave  me ! ' ' 

There  was  a  daffodil  light  over  the  evening 
sky  in  front  of  them,  and  it  shone  strangely  on 
Jackanapes'  hair  and  face.  He  turned  with  an 
odd  look  in  his  eyes  that  a  vainer  man  than  Tony 
Johnson  might  have  taken  for  brotherly  pride. 
Then  he  shook  his  mop,  and  laughed  at  him. 

"Leave  you?  To  save  my  skin?  No,  Tony, 
not  to  save  my  soul!" 

62 


CHAPTER  V 

COMING  out  of  a  hospital-tent,  at  head- 
quarters, the  surgeon  cannoned  against, 
and  rebounded  from,  another  officer;  a 
sallow  man,  not  young,  with  a  face  worn  more 
by  ungentle  experiences  than  by  age ;  with  weary 
eyes  that  kept  their  own  counsel,  iron-gray  hair, 
and  a  mustache  that  was  as  if  a  raven  had  laid 
its  wing  across  his  lips  and  sealed  them. 
"Well?" 

"Beg  pardon,  Major.      Did  n't  see  you.      Oh, 
compound  fracture  and  bruises,  but  it  's  all  right. 
He  '11  pull  through." 
"Thank  God!" 

It  was  probably  an  involuntary  expression,  for 
prayer  and  praise  were  not  much  in  the  Major's 
line,  as  a  jerk  of  the  surgeon's  head  would  have 
betrayed  to  an  observer.  He  was  a  bright  little 
man,  with  his  feelings  showing  all  over  him,  but 

63 


JACKANAPES 

with  gallantry  and  contempt  of  death  enough 
for  both  sides  of  his  profession;  who  took  a  cool 
head,  a  white  handkerchief,  and  a  case  of  instru- 
ments, where  other  men  went  hot-blooded  with 
weapons,  and  who  was  the  biggest  gossip,  male 
or  female,  of  the  regiment.  Not  even  the  Major's 
taciturnity  daunted  him. 

"Did  n  't  think  he  'd  as  much  pluck  about 
him  as  he  has.  He  '11  do  all  right  if  he  does 
n't  fret  himself  into  a  fever  about  poor  Jacka- 
napes." 

"Whom  are  you  talking  about?"  asked  the 
Major,  hoarsely. 

"Young  Johnson.     He—" 

"What  about  Jackanapes?" 

"Don't  you  know!  Sad  business.  Kode  back 
for  Johnson,  and  brought  him  in;  but,  monstrous 
ill-luck,  hit  as  they  rode.     Left  lung—" 

"Will  he  recover?" 

"No.  Sad  business.  What  a  frame— what 
limbs  —  what  health  —  and  what  good  looks ! 
Finest  young  fellow—  " 

"Where  is  he?" 

"In  his  own  tent,"  said  the  surgeon,  sadly. 

64 


JACKANAPES 
The  Major  wheeled  and  left  him. 
"Can  I  do  anything  else  for  you?" 


CAN   I    DO    ANYTHING    ELSE    FOR    YOU?'  " 


"Nothing,  thank  yon.     Except— Major !   I  wish 
I  could  get  you  to  appreciate  Johnson. ' ' 

"This  is  not  an  easy  moment,  Jackanapes." 
"Let  me  tell  you,  sir — he  never  will — that  if 
he  could  have  driven  me  from  him,  he  would  he 

5— Jackanapes.  05 


JACKANAPES 

lying  yonder  at  this  moment,  and  I  should  be 
safe  and  sound." 

The  Major  laid  his  hand  over  his  mouth,  as  if 
to  keep  back  a  wish  he  would  have  been  ashamed 
to  utter. 

"I  've  known  old  Tony  from  a  child.  He  's  a 
fool  on  impulse,  a  good  man  and  a  gentleman 
in  principle.  And  he  acts  on  principle,  which 
it  's  not  every— some  water,  please !  Thank  you, 
sir.  It  's  very  hot,  and  yet  one's  feet  get  un- 
commonly cold.  Oh,  thank  you,  thank  you.  He's 
no  fire-eater,  but  he  has  a  trained  conscience  and 
a  tender  heart,  and  he  '11  do  his  duty  when  a 
braver  and  more  selfish  man  might  fail  you.  But 
he  wants  encouragement;  and  when  I'm  gone—" 

"He  shall  have  encouragement.  You  have  my 
word  for  it.     Can  I  do  nothing  else?" 

"Yes,  Major.     A  favor." 

1 1  Thank  you,  Jackanapes. ' ' 

"Be  Lollo's  master,  and  love  him  as  well  as 
you  can.     He  's  used  to  it." 

"Would  n't  you  rather  Johnson  had  himf" 

The  blue  eyes  twinkled  in  spite  of  mortal  pain. 

"Tony  rides  on  principle,  Major.     His  legs  are 

66 


JACKANAPES 

bolsters,  and  will  be  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  I 
could  n't  insult  dear  Lollo,  but  if  you  don't 
care—" 

"Whilst  I  live— which  shall  be  longer  than  I 
desire  or  deserve— Lollo  shall  want  nothing,  but 
—you.  I  have  too  little  tenderness  for— my  dear 
boy,  you're  faint.  Can  you  spare  me  for  a  mo- 
ment?" 

"No,  stay— Major!" 

"What?    What?" 

"My  head  drifts  so— if  you  would  n't  mind." 

"Yes!     Yes!" 

"Say  a  prayer  by  me.  Out  loud,  please,  I  am 
getting  deaf." 

"My  dearest  Jackanapes— my  dear  boy—" 

"One  of  the  Church  Prayers— Parade  Service, 
you  know—" 

"I  see.  But  the  fact  is— God  forgive  me, 
Jackanapes— I'm  a  very  different  sort  of  fellow 
to  some  of  you  youngsters.  Look  here,  let  me 
fetch-" 

But  Jackanapes's  hand  was  in  his,  and  it 
wouldn't  let  go. 

There  was  a  brief  and  bitter  silence. 

67 


JACKANAPES 

"  'Pon  my  soul,  I  can  only  remember  the  little 
one  at  the  end." 

"Please,"  whispered  Jackanapes. 

Pressed  by  the  conviction  that  what  little  he 
could  do  it  was  his  duty  to  do,  the  Major, 
kneeling,  bared  his  head,  and  spoke  loudly, 
clearly,  and  very  reverently— 

"The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ—" 

Jackanapes  moved  his  left  hand  to  his  right 
one,  which  still  held  the  Major's— 

"—The  love  of  God." 

And  with  that— Jackanapes  died. 

68 


CHAPTER  VI 

JACKANAPES'  death  was  sad  news  for  the 
Goose  Green,  a  sorrow  just  qualified  by 
honorable  pride  in  his  gallantry  and  de- 
votion. Only  the  Cobbler  dissented,  but  that  was 
his  way.  He  said  he  saw  nothing  in  it  but  fool- 
hardiness  and  vainglory.  They  might  both  have 
been  killed,  as  easy  as  not,  and  then  where  would 
ye  have  been!  A  man's  life  was  a  man's  life, 
and  one  life  was  as  good  as  another.  No  one 
would  catch  him  throwing  his  away.  And,  for 
that  matter,  Mrs.  Johnson  could  spare  a  child  a 
great  deal  better  than  Miss  Jessamine. 

But  the  parson  preached  Jackanapes'  funeral 
sermon  on  the  text,  "Whosoever  will  save  his 
life  shall  lose  it;  and  whosoever  will  lose  his 
life  for  My  sake  shall  find  it " ;  and  all  the  village 
went  and  wept  to  hear  him. 
Nor  did  Miss  Jessamine  see  her  loss  from  the 

69 


JACKANAPES 

Cobbler's  point  of  view.  On  the  contrary,  Mrs. 
Johnson  said  she  never  to  her  dying  day  should 
forget  how,  when  she  went  to  condole  with  her, 
the  old  lady  came  forward,  with  gentlewomanly 
self-control,  and  kissed  her,  and  thanked  God  that 
her  dear  nephew's  effort  had  been  blessed  with 
success,  and  that  this  sad  war  had  made  no  gap 
in  her  friend's  large  and  happy  home  circle. 

"But  she's  a  noble,  unselfish  woman,"  sobbed 
Mrs.  Johnson,  "and  she  taught  Jackanapes  to  be 
the  same,  and  that's  how  it  is  that  my  Tony  has 
been  spared  to  me.  And  it  must  be  sheer  good- 
ness in  Miss  Jessamine,  for  what  can  she  know 
of  a  mother's  feelings?  And  I'm  sure  most 
people  seem  to  think  that  if  you  've  a  large 
family  you  don't  know  one  from  another  any 
more  than  they  do,  and  that  a  lot  of  children 
are  like  a  lot  of  store-apples,  if  one's  taken  it 
won't  be  missed." 

Lollo— the  first  Lollo,  the  Gipsy's  Lollo— very 
aged,  draws  Miss  Jessamine's  bath-chair  slowly 
up  and  down  the  Goose  Green  in  the  sunshine. 

The  ex-Postman  walks  beside  him,  which  Lollo 
tolerates  to  the  level  of  his  shoulder.       If  the 

7o 


JACKANAPES 


Postman  advances  any  nearer  to  his  head,  Lollo 
quickens  his  pace,  and  were  the  Postman  to  per- 
sist in  the  injudicious  attempt,  there  is,  as  Miss 
Jessamine  says,  no  knowing  what  might  happen. 
In  the  opinion  of  the  Goose  Green,  Miss  Jessa- 


-rv 


"LOLLO    DRAWS    MISS   JESSAMINE   SLOWLY    UP    AND    DOWN." 

mine  has  borne  her  troubles  ''wonderfully."  In- 
deed, to-day,  some  of  the  less  delicate  and  less 
intimate  of  those  who  see  everything  from  the 
upper  windows,  say  (well  behind  her  back)  that 
"the  old  lady  seems  quite  lively  with  her  military 
beaux  again." 

7i 


JACKANAPES 

The  meaning  of  this  is,  that  Captain  Johnson 
is  leaning  over  one  side  of  her  chair,  whilst  by 
the  other  bends  a  brother  officer  who  is  staying 
with  him,  and  who  has  manifested  an  extra- 
ordinary interest  in  Lollo.  He  bends  lower  and 
lower,  and  Miss  Jessamine  calls  to  the  Postman 
to  request  Lollo  to  be  kind  enough  to  stop,  whilst 
she  is  fumbling  for  something  which  always 
hangs  by  her  side,  and  has  got  entangled  with 
her  spectacles. 

It  is  a  twopenny  trumpet,  bought  years  ago 
in  the  village  fair,  and  over  it  she  and  Captain 
Johnson  tell,  as  best  they  can  between  them,  the 
story  of  Jackanapes'  ride  across  the  Goose 
Green;  and  how  he  won  Lollo— the  Gipsy's  Lollo 
—the  racer  Lollo— dear  Lollo— faithful  Lollo— 
Lollo,  the  never  vanquished— Lollo,  the  tender 
servant  of  his  old  mistress.  And  Lollo 's  ears 
twitch  at  every  mention  of  his  name. 

Their  hearer  does  not  speak,  but  he  never 
moves  his  eyes  from  the  trumpet,  and  when  the 
tale  is  told,  he  lifts  Miss  Jessamine's  hand  and 
presses  his  heavy  black  mustache  in  silence  to 
her  trembling  fingers. 

72 


JACKANAPES 


The  sun,  setting  gently  to  his  rest,  embroiders 
the  •  sombre  foliage  of  the  oak-tree  with  threads 
of  gold.  The  Gray  Goose  is  sensible  of  an  atmos- 
phere of  repose  ,and  puts  up  one  leg  for  the  night. 


.  Ar^v 


WANDERING    OFF    INTO   THE    LANES 


The  grass  glows  with  a  more  vivid  green,  and, 
in  answer  to  a  ringing  call  from  Tony,  his  sisters, 
fluttering  over  the  daisies  in  pale-hued  muslins, 
come  out  of  their  ever-open  door,  like  pretty 
pigeons  from  a  dovecote. 

73 


JACKANAPES 

And  if  the  good  gossips'  eyes  do  not  deceive 
them,  all  the  Miss  Johnsons  and  both  the  officers 
go  wandering  off  into  the  lanes,  where  bryony 
wreaths  still  twine  abont  the  brambles. 

******* 

A  sorrowful  story,  and  ending  badly? 

Nay,  Jackanapes,  for  the  end  is  not  yet. 

A  life  wasted  that  might  have  been  useful? 

Men  who  have  died  for  men,  in  all  ages,  for- 
give the  thought! 

There  is  a  heritage  of  heroic  example  and  noble 
obligation,  not  reckoned  in  the  Wealth  of  Nations, 
but  essential  to  a  nation's  life;  the  contempt  of 
which,  in  any  people,  may,  not  slowly,  mean  even 
its  commercial  fall. 

Very  sweet  are  the  uses  of  prosperity,  the 
harvests  of  peace  and  progress,  the  fostering  sun- 
shine of  health  and  happiness,  and  length  of  days 
in  the  land. 

But  there  be  things— oh,  sons  of  what  has  de- 
served the  name  of  Great  Britain,  forget  it  not! 
—"the  good  of"  which  and  "the  use  of"  which 
are  beyond  all  calculation  of  worldly  goods  and 
earthly  uses :    things  such  as  Love,   and  Honor, 

74 


JACKANAPES 

and  the  Soul  of  Man,  which  cannot  be  bought 
with  a  price,  and  which  do  not  die  with  death. 
And  they  who  would  fain  live  happily  ever  after, 
should  not  leave  these  things  out  of  the  lessons 
of  their  lives. 


75 


THE  PEACE  EGG 


A  CHRISTMAS  TALE 


"SHE   CHOSE   THE   CAPTAIN." 

Seep.  81. 


THE  PEACE  EGG 

A  CHRISTMAS  TALE 


EVEEY  one  ought  to  be  happy  at  Christmas. 
But  there  are  many  things  which  ought 
to  be,  and  yet  are  not;  and  people  are 
sometimes  sad  even  in  the  Christmas  holidays. 

The  Captain  and  his  wife  were  sad,  though  it 
was  Christmas  Eve.  Sad,  though  they  were  in 
the  prime  of  life,  blessed  with  good  health,  de- 
voted to  each  other  and  to  their  children,  with 
competent  means,  a  comfortable  house  on  a  little 
freehold  property  of  their  own,  and,  one  might 
say,  everything  that  heart  could  desire.  Sad, 
though  they  were  good  people,  whose  peace  of 
mind  had  a  firmer  foundation  than  their  earthly 

79 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

goods  alone;  contented  people,  too,  with  plenty 
of  occupation  for  mind  and  body.  Sad— and  in 
the  nursery  this  was  held  to  be  past  all  reason— 
though  the  children  were  performing  that  ancient 
and  most  entertaining  Play  or  Christmas  Mystery 
of  Good  St.  George  of  England,  known  as  The 
Peace  Egg,  for  their  benefit  and  behoof  alone. 

The  play  was  none  the  worse  that  most  of  the 
actors  were  too  young  to  learn  parts,  so  that 
there  was  very  little  of  the  rather  tedious  dia- 
logue, only  plenty  of  dress  and  ribbons,  and  of 
fighting  with  the  wooden  swords.  But  though 
St.  George  looked  bonny  enough  to  warm  any 
father's  heart,  as  he  marched  up  and  down  with 
an  air  learned  by  watching  many  a  parade  in 
barrack-square  and  drill-ground,  and  though  the 
Valiant  Slasher  did  not  cry  in  spite  of  falling 
hard  and  the  Doctor  treading  accidentally  on  his 
little  finger  in  picking  him  up,  still  the  Captain 
and  his  wife  sighed  nearly  as  often  as  they  smiled, 
and  the  mother  dropped  tears  as  well  as  pennies 
into  the  cap  which  the  King  of  Egypt  brought 
round  after  the  performance. 

80 


M 


II 

The    Captain  's   Wife 

ANY,  many  years  back,  the  Captain's  wife 
had  been  a  child  herself,  and  had  laughed 
to  see  the  village  mummers  act  the  Peace 
Egg,  and  had  been  quite  happy  on  Christmas 
Eve.  Happy,  though  she  had  no  mother. 
Happy,  though  her  father  was  a  stern  man,  very 
fond  of  his  only  child,  but  with  an  obstinate  will 
that  not  even  she  dared  thwart.  She  had  lived 
to  thwart  it,  and  he  had  never  forgiven  her.  It 
was  when  she  married  the  Captain.  The  old  man 
had  a  prejudice  against  soldiers,  which  was  quite 
reason  enough,  in  his  opinion,  for  his  daughter 
to  sacrifice  the  happiness  of  her  future  life  by 
giving  up  the  soldier  she  loved.  At  last  he  gave 
her  her  choice  between  the  Captain  and  his  own 
favor  and  money.  She  chose  the  Captain,  and 
was  disowned  and  disinherited. 

6— Jackanapes.  O I 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

The  Captain  bore  a  high  character,  and  was 
a  good  and  clever  officer,  but  that  went  for 
nothing  against  the  old  man's  whim.  He  made  a 
very  good  husband,  too;  but  even  this  did  not 
move  his  father-in-law,  who  had  never  held  any 
intercourse  with  him  or  his  wife  since  the  day 
of  their  marriage,  and  who  had  never  seen  his 
own  grandchildren.  Though  not  so  bitterly  pre- 
judiced as  the  old  father,  the  Captain's  wife's 
friends  had  their  doubts  about  the  marriage. 
The  place  was  not  a  military  station,  and  they 
were  quiet  country  folk  who  knew  very  little 
about  soldiers,  whilst  what  they  imagined  was  not 
altogether  favorable  to  " red-coats,"  as  they 
called  them.  Soldiers  are  well-looking,  generally, 
it  is  true  (and  the  Captain  was  more  than  well- 
looking— he  was  handsome)  ;  brave,  of  course,  it 
is  their  business  (and  the  Captain  had  V.  C.  after 
his  name  and  several  bits  of  ribbon  on  his  patrol 
jacket).  But  then,  thought  the  good  people,  they 
are  here  to-day  and  gone  to-morrow,  you  "never 
know  where  you  have  them";  they  are  probably 
in  debt,  possibly  married  to  several  women  in 
several  foreign  countries,  and,  though  they  are 

82 


THE    PEACE    EGG 


very  courteous  in  society,  who  knows  how  they 
treat  their  wives  when  they  drag  them  off  from 
their  natural  friends  and  protectors  to  distant 
lands  where  no  one  can  call  them  to  account? 

"Ah,  poor  thing!"  said  Mrs.  John  Bull,  junior, 
as  she  took  off  her  husband's  coat  on  his  return 
from  business,  a  week  after  the  Captain's  wed- 
ding, "I  wonder  how  she  feels?  There's  no 
doubt  the  old  man  behaved  disgracefully;  but  it's 
a  great  risk  marrying  a  soldier.  It  stands  to 
reason,  military  men  are  n't  domestic;  and  I  wish 
—Lucy  Jane,  fetch  your  papa's  slippers,  quick! 
—she'd  had  the  sense  to  settle  down  comfortably 
amongst  her  friends  with  a  man  who  would  have 
taken  care  of  her." 

"Officers  are  a  wild  set,  I  expect,"  said  Mr. 
Bull,  complacently,  as  he  stretched  his  limbs  in 
his  own  particular  arm-chair,  into  which  no  mem- 
ber of  his  family  ever  intruded.  "But  the  red- 
coats carry  the  day  with  plenty  of  girls  who  ought 
to  know  better.  You  women  are  always  caught 
by  a  bit  of  finery.  However,  there's  no  use  our 
bothering  our  heads  about  it.  As  she  has  brewed 
she  must  bake." 

83 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

The  Captain's  wife's  baking  was  lighter  and 
more  palatable  than  her  friends  believed.  The 
Captain  (who  took  off  his  own  coat  when  he  came 
home,  and  never  wore  slippers  but  in  his  dressing- 
room)  was  domestic  enough.  A  selfish  com- 
panion must,  doubtless,  be  a  great  trial  amid  the 
hardships  of  military  life,  but  when  a  soldier  is 
kind-hearted,  he  is  often  a  much  more  helpful 
and  thoughtful  and  handy  husband  than  any 
equally  well-meaning  civilian.  Amid  the  ups  and 
downs  of  their  wanderings,  the  discomforts  of 
shipboard  and  of  stations  in  the  colonies,  bad 
servants,  and  unwonted  sicknesses,  the  Captain's 
tenderness  never  failed.  If  the  life  was  rough 
the  Captain  was  ready.  He  had  been,  by  turns, 
in  one  strait  or  another,  sick-nurse,  doctor,  car- 
penter, nursemaid,  and  cook  to  his  family,  and 
had,  moreover,  an  idea  that  nobody  filled  these 
offices  quite  so  well  as  himself.  Withal,  his  very 
profession  kept  him  neat,  well-dressed,  and  active. 
In  the  roughest  of  their  ever-changing  quarters 
he  was  a  smarter  man,  more  like  the  lover  of  his 
wife's  young  days,  than  Mr.  Bull  amid  his  sta- 
tionary comforts.       Then  if  the  Captain's  wife 

84 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

was— as  her  friends  said— "never  settled,"  she 
was  also  forever  entertained  by  new  scenes;  and 
domestic  mischances  do  not  weigh  very  heavily 
on  people  whose  possessions  are  few  and  their 


THE   CAPTAIN'S   TENDERNESS    NEVER    FAILED." 


intellectual  interests  many.  It  is  true  that  there 
were  ladies  in  the  Captain's  regiment  who  passed 
by  sea  and  land  from  one  quarter  of  the  globe 

85 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

to  another,  amid  strange  climates  and  customs, 
strange  trees  and  flowers,  beasts  and  birds,  from 
the  glittering  snows  of  North  America  to  the 
orchids  of  the  Cape,  from  beautiful  Pera  to  the 
lily-covered  hills  of  Japan,  and  who  in  no  place 
rose  above  the  fret  of  domestic  worries,  and  had 
little  to  tell  on  their  return  but  of  the  universal 
misconduct  of  servants,  from  Irish  "helps"  in  the 
colonies,  to  compradors  and  China-boys  at 
Shanghai.  But  it  was  not  so  with  the  Captain's 
wife.  Moreover,  one  becomes  accustomed  to 
one's  fate,  and  she  moved  her  whole  establish- 
ment from  the  Curragh  to  Corfu  with  less  anxiety 
that  -that  felt  by  Mrs.  Bull  over  a  port-wine  stain 
on  the  best  table-cloth. 

And  yet,  as  years  went  and  children  came,  the 
Captain  and  his  wife  grew  tired  of  traveling. 
New  scenes  were  small  comfort  when  they  heard 
of  the  death  of  old  friends.  One  foot  of  murky 
English  sky  was  dearer,  after  all,  than  miles  of 
the  unclouded  heavens  of  the  South.  The  gray 
hills  and  overgrown  lanes  of  her  old  home  haunted 
the  Captain's  wife  by  night  and  day,  and  home- 
sickness  (that  weariest  of  all  sicknesses)   began 

86 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

to  take  the  light  out  of  her  eyes  before  their 
time.  It  preyed  upon  the  Captain,  too.  Now 
and  then  he  would  say,  fretfully,  "I  should  like 
an  English  resting-place,  however  small,  before 
everybody  is  dead!  But  the  children's  prospects 
have  to  be  considered. ' '  The  continued  estrange- 
ment from  the  old  man  was  an  abiding  sorrow 
also,  and  they  had  hopes  that,  if  only  they  could 
get  to  England,  he  might  be  persuaded  to  peace 
and  charity  this  time. 

At  last  they  were  sent  home.  But  the  hard  old 
father  still  would  not  relent.  He  returned  their 
letters  unopened.  This  bitter  disappointment 
made  the  Captain's  wife  so  ill  that  she  almost 
died,  and  in  one  month  the  Captain's  hair  be- 
came iron-gray.  He  reproached  himself  for  hav- 
ing ever  taken  the  daughter  from  her  father, 
"to  kill  her  at  last,"  as  he  said.  And  (thinking 
of  his  own  children)  he  even  reproached  himself 
for  having  robbed  the  old  widower  of  his  only 
child.  After  two  years  at  home,  his  regiment 
was  ordered  to  India.  He  failed  to  effect  an  ex- 
change, and  they  prepared  to  move  once  more— 
from  Chatham  to  Calcutta.       Never  before  had 

87 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

the  packing,  to  which  she  was  so  well  accustomed, 
been  so  bitter  a  task  to  the  Captain's  wife. 

It  was  at  the  darkest  hour  of  this  gloomy  time 
that  the  Captain  came  in,  waving  above  his  head 
a  letter  which  changed  all  their  plans. 

Now  close  by  the  old  home  of  the  Captain's  wife 
there  had  lived  a  man  much  older  than  herself, 
who  yet  had  loved  her  with  a  devotion  as  great 
as  that  of  the  young  Captain.  She  never  knew 
it,  for  when  he  saw  that  she  had  given  her  heart 
to  his  younger  rival,  he  kept  silence,  and  he  never 
asked  for  what  he  knew  he  might  have  had— the 
old  man's  authority  in  his  favor.  So  generous 
was  the  affection  which  he  could  never  conquer, 
that  he  constantly  tried  to  reconcile  the  father  to 
his  children  whilst  he  lived,  and,  when  he  died, 
he  bequeathed  his  house  and  small  estate  to  the 
woman  he  had  loved. 

And  thus  it  came  about  that  the  Captain's 
regiment  went  to  India  without  him,  and  that  the 
Captain's  wife  and  her  father  lived  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  same  road. 

88 


Ill 

Master   Robert 

THE  eldest  of  the  Captain's  children  was  a 
boy.  He  was  named  Robert,  after  his 
grandfather,  and  seemed  to  have  inherited 
a  good  deal  of  the  old  gentleman's  character, 
mixed  with  gentler  traits.  He  was  a  fair,  fine 
boy,  tall  and  stout  for  his  age,  with  the  Captain's 
regular  features,  and  (he  flattered  himself)  the 
Captain's  firm  step  and  martial  bearing.  He 
was  apt— like  his  grandfather— to  hold  his  own 
will  to  be  other  people's  law,  and  (happily  for 
the  peace  of  the  nursery)  this  opinion  was  de- 
voutly shared  by  his  brother  Nicholas.  Though 
the  Captain  had  sold  his  commission,  Robin  con- 
tinued to  command  an  irregular  force  of  volun- 
teers in  the  nursery,  and  never  was  colonel  more 
despotic.  His  brothers  and  sister  were  by  turn 
infantry,    cavalry,    engineers,    and   artillery,    ac- 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

cording  to  his  whim,  and  when  his  affections 
finally  settled  upon  the  Highlanders  of  "The 
Black  Watch,"  no  female  power  could  compel 
him  to  keep  his  stockings  above  his  knees,  or  his 
knickerbockers  below  them. 

The  Captain  alone  was  a  match  for  his  strong- 
willed  son. 

"If  you  please,  sir,"  said  Sarah,  one  morning, 
flouncing  in  upon  the  Captain,  just  as  he  was 
about  to  start  for  the  neighboring  town,— "If 
you  please,  sir,  I  wish  you'd  speak  to  Master 
Robert.     He  's  past  my  powers." 

"I  Ve  no  doubt  of  it,"  thought  the  Captain, 
but  he  only  said,  "Well,  what's  the  matter?" 

"Night  after  night,  do  I  put  him  to  bed,"  said 
Sarah,  "and  night  after  night  does  he  get  up 
as  soon  as  I'm  out  of  the  room,  and  says  he's 
orderly  officer  for  the  evening,  and  goes  about 
in  his  night-shirt  and  his  feet  as  bare  as  boards. ' ' 

The  Captain  fingered  his  heavy  mustache  to 
hide  a  smile,  but  he  listened  patiently  to  Sarah's 
complaints. 

"It  ain't  so  much  him  I  should  mind,  sir," 
she  continued,  "but  he  goes  round  the  beds  and 

90 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

wakes  up  the  other  young  gentlemen  and  Miss 
Dora,  one  after  another,  and  when  I  speak  to 
him,  he  gives  me  all  the  sauce  he  can  lay  his 
tongue  to,  and  says  he  's  going  round  the  guards. 
The  other  night  I  tried  to  put  him  back  in  his 
bed,  but  he  got  away  and  ran  all  over  the  house, 
me  hunting  him  everywhere,  and  not  a  sign  of 
him,  till  he  jumps  out  on  me  from  the  garret- 
stairs  and  nearly  knocks  me  down.  'I  've 
visited  the  outposts,  Sarah/  says  he;  'all's  well.' 
And  off  he  goes  to  bed  as  bold  as  brass." 

"Have  you  spoken  to  your  mistress?"  asked 
the  Captain. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Sarah.  "And  missis  spoke 
to  him,  and  he  promised  not  to  go  round  the 
guards  again." 

"Has  he  broken  his  promise?"  asked  the  Cap- 
tain, with  a  look  of  anger,  and  also  of  surprise. 

"When  I  opened  the  door  last  night,  sir,"  con- 
tinued Sarah,  in  her  shrill  treble,  "what  should 
I  see  in  the  dark  but  Master  Robert  a-walking  up 
and  down  with  the  carpet-brush  stuck  in  his  arm. 
'Who  goes  there!'  says  he.  'You  owdacious 
boy!'  says  I,  'Didn't  you  promise  your  ma  you'd 

9i 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

leave  off  them  tricks  V  i  I  'm  not  going  round  the 
guards/  says  he;  'I  promised  not.  But  I'm  for 
sentry-duty  to-night.'  And  say  what  I  would  to 
him,  all  he  had  for  me  was,  'You  must  n't  speak 
to  a  sentry  on  duty.'  So  I  says,  'As  sure  as  I 
live  till  morning,  I'll  go  to  your  pa,'  for  he  pays 
no  more  attention  to  his  ma  than  to  me,  nor  to 
any  one  else." 

"Please  to  see  that  the  chair-bed  in  my 
dressing-room  is  moved  into  your  mistress's  bed- 
room," said  the  Captain.  "I  will  attend  to 
Master  Kobert." 

With  this  Sarah  had  to  content  herself,  and 
she  went  back  to  the  nursery.  Robert  was  no- 
where to  be  seen,  and  made  no  reply  to  her  sum- 
mons. On  this  the  unwary  nursemaid  flounced 
ino  the  bedroom  to  look  for  him,  when  Robert, 
who  was  hidden  beneath  a  table,  darted  forth, 
and  promptly  locked  her  in. 

"You  're  under  arrest,"  he  shouted  through 
the  keyhole. 

"Let  me  out!"  shrieked  Sarah. 

"I  '11  send  a  file  of  the  guard  to  fetch  you  to 
the  orderly-room,  by  and  by,"  said  Robert,  "for 

92 


THE    PEACE    EGG 


'preferring  frivolous  complaints.'  "     And  he  de- 


"  YOU    MUST    N'T   SPEAK   TO   A    SENTRY    ON    DUTY." 


parted  to  the  farmyard  to  look  at  the  ducks, 

93 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

That  night,  when  Robert  went  up  to  bed,  the 
Captain  quietly  locked  him  into  his  dressing- 
room,  from  which  the  bed  had  been  removed. 

"You  're  for  sentry  duty,  to-night,' '  said  the 
Captain.  "The  carpet-brush  is  in  the  corner. 
Good-evening." 

As  his  father  anticipated,  Robert  was  soon 
tired  of  the  sentry  game  in  these  new  circum- 
stances, and  long  before  the  night  had  half  worn 
away  he  wished  himself  safely  undressed  and  in 
his  own  comfortable  bed.  At  half-past  twelve 
o'clock  he  felt  as  if  he  could  bear  it  no  longer, 
and  knocked  at  the  Captain's  door. 

"Who  goes  there?"  said  the  Captain. 

"Mayn't  I  go  to  bed,  please?"  whined  poor 
Robert. 

"Certainly  not,"  said  the  Captain.  "You  're 
on  duty." 

And  on  duty  poor  Robert  had  to  remain,  for 
the  Captain  had  a  will  as  well  as  his  son.  So  he 
rolled  himself  in  his  father's  railway  rug,  and 
slept  on  the  floor. 

The  next  night  he  was  very  glad  to  go  quietly 
to  bed,  and  remain  there. 

94 


IV 

In  the  Nursery. 

THE  Captain's  children  sat  at  breakfast  in  a 
large,  bright  nursery.      It  was  the  room 
where  the  old  bachelor  had  died,  and  now 
her  children  made  it  merry.     This  was  just  what 
he  would  have  wished. 

They  all  sat  round  the  table,  for  it  was  break- 
fast time.  There  were  five  of  them,  and  five 
bowls  of  boiled  bread-and-milk  smoked  before 
them.  Sarah  (a  foolish,  gossiping  girl,  who 
acted  as  nurse  till  better  could  be  found)  was 
waiting  on  them,  and  by  the  table  sat  Darkie,  the 
black  retriever,  his  long,  curly  back  swaying 
slightly  from  the  difficulty  of  holding  himself  up, 
and  his  solemn  hazel  eyes  fixed  very  intently  on 
each  and  all  of  the  breakfast  bowls.  He  was  as 
silent  and  sagacious  as  Sarah  was  talkative  and 
empty-headed.      The  expression  of  his  face  was 

95 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

that  of  King  Charles  I,  as  painted  by  Vandyke. 
Though  large,  he  was  nnassnming.  Pax,  the 
pug,  on  the  contrary,  who  came  up  to  the  first 
joint  of  Darkie's  leg,  stood  defiantly  on  his 
dignity  (and  his  short  stumps).  He  always 
placed  himself  in  front  of  the  bigger  dog,  /and 
made  a  point  of  hustling  him  in  doorways  and 
of  going  first  downstairs.  He  strutted  like  a 
beadle,  and  carried  his  tail  more  tightly  curled 
than  a  bishop's  crook.  He  looked,  as  one  may 
imagine  the  frog  in  the  fable  would  have  looked, 
had  he  been  able  to  swell  himself  rather  nearer 
to  the  size  of  the  ox.  This  was  partly  due  to  his 
very  prominent  eyes,  and  partly  to  an  obesity 
favored  by  habits  of  lying  inside  the  fender,  and 
of  eating  meals  proportioned  more  to  his  conse- 
quence than  to  his  hunger.  They  were  both 
favorites  of  two  years'  standing,  and  had  very 
nearly  been  given  away,  when  the  good  news 
came  of  an  English  home  for  the  family,  dogs 
and  all. 

Eobert's  tongue  was  seldom  idle,  even  at  meals. 
"Are  you  a  Yorkshire  woman,  Sarah?"  he 
asked,  pausing,  with  his  spoon  full  in  his  hand. 

96 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

"No,  Master  Robert,"  said  Sarah. 

"But  you  understand  Yorkshire,  don't  you? 
I  can't,  very  often;  but  Mamma  can,  and  can 
speak  it,  too.  Papa  says  Mamma  always  talks 
Yorkshire  to  servants  and  poor  people.  She 
used  to  talk  Yorkshire  to  Themistocles,  Papa 
said,  and  he  said  it  was  no  good;  for  though 
Themistocles  knew  a  lot  of  languages,  he  didn't 
know  that.  And  Mamma  laughed,  and  said  she 
didn't  know  she  did.  Themistocles  was  our 
man-servant  in  Corfu,"  Robin  added,  in  ex- 
planation. "He  stole  lots  of  things,  Themis- 
tocles did;  but  Papa  found  him  out." 

Robin  now  made  a  rapid  attack  on  his  bread- 
and-milk,  after  which  he  broke  out  again. 

"Sarah,  who  is  that  tall  old  gentleman  at 
church,  in  the  seat  near  the  pulpit?  He  wears  a 
cloak  like  what  the  Blues  wear,  only  all  blue,  and 
is  tall  enough  for  a  Lifeguardsman.  He  stood 
when  we  were  kneeling  down,  and  said,  i  Al- 
mighty and  most  merciful  Father,'  louder  than 
anybody. ' ' 

Sarah  knew  who  the  old  gentleman  was,  and 
knew  also  that  the  children  did  not  know,   and 

7— Jackanapes.  9/ 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

that  their  parents  did  not  see  fit  to  tell  them  as 
yet.  But  she  had  a  passion  for  telling  and  hear- 
ing news,  and  would  rather  gossip  with  a  child 
than  not  gossip  at  all.  "Never  you  mind,  Master 
Robin, "  she  said,  nodding  sagaciously.  "Little 
boys  are  n't  to  know  everything." 

"Ah,  then,  I  know  you  don't  know,"  replied 
Robert;  "if  you  did,  you  'd  tell.  Nicholas,  give 
some  of  your  bread  to  Darkie  and  Pax.  I've 
done  mine.  For  what  we  have  received  the  Lord 
make  us  truly  thankful.  Say  your  grace  and 
put  your  chair  away,  and  come  along.  I  want  to 
hold  a  court-martial."  And  seizing  his  own 
chair  by  the  seat,  Robin  carried  it  swiftly  to  its 
corner.  As  he  passed  Sarah  he  observed,  taunt- 
ingly, "You  pretend  to  know,  but  you  don't." 

"I  do,"  said  Sarah. 

"You  don't,"  said  Robin. 

"Your  ma  's  forbid  you  to  contradict,  Master 
Robin,"  said  Sarah;  "and  if  you  do  I  shall  tell 
her.  I  know  well  enough  who  the  old  gentleman 
is,  and  perhaps  I  might  tell  you,  only  you  'd  go 
straight  off  and  tell  again. " 

"No,  no,  I  wouldn't!"  shouted  Robin.     "I  can 


THE    PEACE    EGG 


keep   a   secret,    indeed   I   can!      Pincli   my   little 
finger,  and  try.     Do,  do  tell  me,  Sarah,  there's  a 


"HE   STOOD    WHEN    WE   WERE   KNEELING." 

dear  Sarah,  and  then  I  shall  know  yon  know. 

99 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

And  he  danced  round  her,  catching  at  her  skirts. 

To  keep  a  secret  was  beyond  Sarah's  powers. 

"Do  let  my  dress  be,  Master  Robin/ '  she  said, 
"yon  're  ripping  out  all  the  gathers,  and  listen 
while  I  whisper.  As  sure  as  yon  're  a  living 
boy,  that  gentleman's  your  own  grandpapa." 

Eobin  lost  his  hold  on  Sarah's  dress;  his  arms 
fell  by  his  side,  and  he  stood  with  his  brows 
knit  for  some  minutes,  thinking.  Then  he  said, 
emphatically,  "What  lies  you  do  tell,  Sarah!" 

"Oh,  Robin!"  cried  Nicholas,  who  had  drawn 
near,  his  thick  curls  standing  stark  with  curiosity, 
"Mamma  said  i lies'  was  n't  a  proper  word,  and 
you  promised  not  to  say  it  again." 

"I  forgot,"  said  Robin.  "I  didn't  mean  to 
break  my  promise.  But  she  does  tell— ahem!  — 
you  know  what. ' ' 

"You  wicked  boy!"  cried  the  enraged  Sarah; 
"how  dare  you  say  such  a  thing,  and  everybody 
in  the  place  knows  he  's  your  ma's  own  pa!" 

"I'll  go  and  ask  her,"  said  Robin,  and  he  was 
at  the  door  in  a  moment;  but  Sarah,  alarmed 
by  the  thought  of  getting  into  a  scrape  herself, 
caught  him  by  the  arm. 

ioo 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

" Don't  you  go,  love;  it'll  only  make  your  ma 
angry.     There;  it  was  all  my  nonsense." 

' '  Then  it  's  not  true  I ' '  said  Robin,  indignantly. 
"What  did  you  tell  me  so  for!" 

"It  was  all  my  jokes  and  nonsense,"  said  the 
unscrupulous  Sarah.  "But  your  ma  would  n't 
like  to  know  I  've  said  such  a  thing.  And  Master 
Robert  would  n't  be  so  mean  as  to  tell  tales, 
would  he,  love?" 

"I  'm  not  mean,"  said  Robin,  stoutly;  "and 
I  don't  tell  tales;  but  you  do,  and  you  tell— you 
know  what— besides.  However,  I  won't  go  this 
time;  but  I  '11  tell  you  what— if  you  tell  tales  of 
me  to  Papa  any  more,  I  '11  tell  him  what  you 
said  about  the  old  gentleman  in  the  blue  cloak." 
With  which  parting  threat  Robin  strode  off  to 
join  his  brothers  and  sister. 

Sarah's  tale  had  put  the  court-martial  out  of 
his  head,  and  he  leaned  against  the  tall  fender, 
gazing  at  his  little  sister,  who  was  tenderly 
nursing  a  well-worn  doll.     Robin  sighed. 

"What  a  long  time  that  doll  takes  to  wear  out, 
Dora!"  said  he.     "When  will  it  be  done?" 

"Oh,  not  yet,  not  yet!"  cried  Dora,  clasping 

IOI 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

the  doll  to  her,  and  turning  away.     "She's  quite 
good,  yet." 

"How  miserly  you  are,"  said  her  brother; 
"and  selfish,  too;  for  you  know  I  can't  have  a 
military  funeral  till  you  '11  let  me  bury  that  old 
thing. ' ' 

Dora  began  to  cry. 

"There  you  go,  crying!"  said  Robin,  impa- 
tiently. ' '  Look  here :  I  won 't  take  it  till  you  get 
the  new  one  on  your  birthday.  You  can't  be  so 
mean  as  not  to  let  me  have  it  then!" 

But  Dora's  tears  still  fell.  "I  love  this  one 
so  much,"  she  sobbed.  "I  love  her  better  than 
the  new  one." 

"You  want  both;  that  's  it,"  said  Robin, 
angrily.  "Dora,  you  're  the  meanest  girl  I  ever 
knew ! ' ' 

At  which  unjust  and  painful  accusation  Dora 
threw  herself  and  the  doll  upon  their  faces,  and 
wept  bitterly.  The  eyes  of  the  soft-hearted 
Nicholas  began  to  fill  with  tears,  and  he  squatted 
down  before  her,  looking  most  dismal.  He  had 
a  fellow-feeling  for  her  attachment  to  an  old  toy, 
and  yet  Robin's  will  was  law  to  him. 

102 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

1 'Could  n't  we  make  a  coffin,  and  pretend  the 
body  was  inside!"  he  suggested. 

"No,  we  could  n't,"  said  Robin.  "I  would  n't 
play  the  Dead  March  after  an  empty  candle-box. 
It  's  a  great  shame— and  I  promised  she  should 
be  chaplain  in  one  of  my  night-gowns,  too." 

"Perhaps  you  '11  get  just  as  fond  of  the  new 
one,"  said  Nicholas,  turning  to  Dora. 

But  Dora  only  cried,  ' '  No,  no !  He  shall  have 
the  new  one  to  bury,  and  I  '11  keep  my  poor, 
dear,  darling  Betsy."  And  she  clasped  Betsy 
tighter  than  before. 

"That  's  the  meanest  thing  you  've  said  yet," 
retorted  Robin;  "for  you  know  Mamma  wouldn't 
let  me  bury  the  new  one."  And,  with  an  air  of 
great  disgust,  he  quitted  the  nursery. 

103 


"A-Mumming  We  Will  Go." 

NICHOLAS   had   sore   work  to   console   his 
little  sister,   and  Betsy's  prospects  were 
in    a    very    nnfavorable    state,    when    a 
diversion   was    cansed   in   her   favor   by    a   new 
whim    which    pnt    the    military    funeral    out    of 
Kobin's  head. 

After  he  left  the  nursery  he  strolled  out  of 
doors,  and,  peeping  through  the  gate  at  the  end 
of  the  drive,  he  saw  a  party  of  boys  going  through 
what  looked  like  a  military  exercise  with  sticks 
and  a  good  deal  of  stamping;  but,  instead  of 
mere  words  of  command,  they  all  spoke  by  turns, 
as  in  a  play.  In  spite  of  their  strong  Yorkshire 
accent,  Eobin  overheard  a  good  deal,  and  it 
sounded  very  fine.  Not  being  at  all  shy,  he 
joined  them,  and  asked  so  many  questions  that 
he  soon  got  to  know  all  about  it.       They  wer# 

104 


THE    TEACE    EGG 

practicing  a  Christmas  mumming-play,  called 
i  i  The  Peace  Egg. ' '  Why  it  was  called  thus,  they 
could  not  tell  him,  as  there  was  nothing  what- 
ever about  eggs  in  it,  and  so  far  from  being  a 
play  of  peace,  it  was  made  up  of  a  series  of 
battles  between  certain  valiant  knights  and 
princes,  of  whom  St.  George  of  England  was  the 
chief  and  conqueror.  The  rehearsal  being  over, 
Robin  went  with  the  boys  to  the  sexton's  house 
(he  was  father  to  the  "King  of  Egypt"),  where 
they  showed  him  the  dresses  they  were  to  wear. 
These  were  made  of  gay-colored  materials,  and 
covered  with  ribbons,  except  that  of  the  "Black 
Prince  of  Paradine,"  which  was  black,  as  be- 
came his  title.  The  boys  also  showed  him  the 
book  from  which  they  learned  their  parts,  and 
which  was  to  be  bought  for  one  penny  at  the  post- 
office  shop. 

"Then  are  you  the  mummers  who  come  round 
at  Christmas,  and  act  in  people's  kitchens,  and 
people  give  them  money,  that  Mamma  used  to 
tell  us  about?"  said  Robin. 

St.  George  of  England  looked  at  his  com- 
panions  as  if  for  counsel   as  to  how   far   they 

105 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

might  commit  themselves,  and  then  replied,  with 
Yorkshire  cantion,  "Well,  I  suppose  we  are." 

"And  do  you  go  ont  in  the  snow  from  one 
house  to  another  at  night;  and  oh,  don't  you 
enjoy  it!"  cried  Robin. 

"We  like  it  well  enough, "  St.  George  admitted. 

Robin  bought  a  copy  of  "The  Peace  Egg." 
He  was  resolved  to  have  a  nursery  performance, 
and  to  act  the  part  of  St.  George  himself.  The 
others  were  willing  for  what  he  wished,  but 
there  were  difficulties.  In  the  first  place,  there 
are  eight  characters  in  the  play,  and  there  were 
only  five  children.  They  decided  among  them- 
selves to  leave  out  the  "Fool,"  and  Mamma  said 
that  another  character  was  not  to  be  acted  by 
any  of  them,  or,  indeed,  mentioned;  "the  little 
one  who  comes  in  at  the  end,"  Robin  explained. 
Mamma  had  her  reasons,  and  these  were  always 
good.  She  had  not  been  altogether  pleased  that 
Robin  had  bought  the  play.  It  was  a  very  old 
thing,  she  said,  and  very  queer;  not  adapted  for 
a  child's  play.  If  Mamma  thought  the  parts  not 
quite  fit  for  the  children  to  learn,  they  found 
them  much  too  long ;  so  in  the  end  she  picked  out 

1 06 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

some  bits  for  each,  which  they  learned  easily, 
and  which,  with  a  good  deal  of  fighting,  made 
quite  as  good  a  story  of  it  as  if  they  had  done 
the  whole.  What  may  have  been  wanting  other- 
wise was  made  up  for  by  the  dresses,  which  were 
charming. 

Robin  was  St.  George;  Nicholas,  the  Valiant 
Slasher;  Dora,  the  Doctor;  and  the  other  two, 
Hector  and  the  King  of  Egypt.  "And  now 
we  Ve  no  Black  Prince ! ' '  cried  Robin,  in  dismay. 

"Let  Darkie  be  the  Black  Prince,"  said 
Nicholas.  "When  you  wave  your  stick  he  '11 
jump  for  it,  and  then  you  can  pretend  to  fight 
with  him." 

"It  's  not  a  stick,  it  's  a  sword,"  said  Robin. 
"However,  Darkie  may  be  the  Black  Prince." 

"And  what  's  Pax  to  be?"  asked  Dora;  "for 
you  know  he  will  come  if  Darkie  does,  and  he'll 
run  in  before  everybody  else,  too." 

"Then  he  must  be  the  Fool,"  said  Robin,  "and 
it  will  do  very  well,  for  the  Fool  comes  in  be- 
fore the  rest,  and  Pax  can  have  his  red  coat  on, 
and  the  collar  with  the  little  bells." 

107 


VI 

Christmas  Eve. 

ROBIN  thought  that  Christmas  would  never 
come.      To  the   Captain  and  his  wife  it 
seemed    to    come    too    fast.       They    had 
hoped    it    might    bring    reconciliation    with    the 
old    man,    but    it    seemed    they    had    hoped    in 
vain. 

There  were  times  now  when  the  Captain 
almost  regretted  the  old  bachelor's  bequest. 
The  familiar  scenes  of  her  old  home  sharpened 
his  wife's  grief.  To  see  her  father  every  Sun- 
day in  church,  with  marks  of  age  and  infirmity 
upon  him,  but  with  not  a  look  of  tenderness  for 
his  only  child,  this  tried  her  sorely. 

"She  felt  it  less   abroad,"   thought  the   Cap- 
tain.    "An  English  home  in  which  she  frets  her- 
self to  death  is,  after  all,  no  great  boon." 
Christmas  Eve  came. 

1 08 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

' '  I '  m  sure  it  's  quite  Christmas  enough  now, ' ' 
said  Robin.  "We  '11  have  'The  Peace  Egg'  to- 
night. ' ' 

So  as  the  Captain  and  his  wife  sat  sadly  over 
their  fire,  the  door  opened,  and  Pax  ran  in  shak- 
ing his  bells,  and  followed  by  the  nursery  mum- 
mers. The  performance  was  most  successful. 
It  was  by  no  means  pathetic,  and  yet,  as  has 
been  said,  the  Captain's  wife  shed  tears. 

"What  is  the  matter,  Mamma?"  said  St. 
George,  abruptly  dropping  his  sword  and  run- 
ning up  to  her. 

"Don't  tease  Mamma  with  questions,"  said 
the  Captain;  "she  is  not  very  well,  and  rather 
sad.  We  must  all  be  very  kind  and  good  to 
poor,  dear  Mamma;"  and  the  Captain  raised  his 
wife's  hand  to  his  lips  as  he  spoke.  Robin 
seized  the  other  hand  and  kissed  it  tenderly. 
He  was  very  fond  of  his  mother.  At  this  mo- 
ment Pax  took  a  little  run,  and  jumped  onto 
Mamma's  lap,  where,  sitting  facing  the  com- 
pany, he  opened  his  black  mouth  and  yawned, 
with  a  ludicrous  inappropriateness  worthy  of  any 
clown.     It  made  everybody  laugh. 

109 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

"And  now  we  '11  go  and  act  in  the  kitchen," 
said  Nicholas. 

"Supper  at  nine  o'clock,  remember,"  shouted 
the  Captain.  "We  are  going  to  have  real 
frumenty  and  Yule  cakes,  such  as  Mamma  used 
to  tell  us  of  when  we  were  abroad." 

"Hurray!"  shouted  the  mummers,  and  they 
ran  off,  Pax  leaping  from  his  seat  just  in  time 
to  hustle  the  Black  Prince  in  the  doorway. 
When  the  dining-room  door  was  shut,  St.  George 
raised  his  hand,  and  said  "Hush!" 

The  mummers  pricked  their  ears,  but  there 
was  only  a  distant  harsh  and  scraping  sound,  as 
of  stones  rubbed  together. 

"They  're  cleaning  the  passages,"  St.  George 
went  on,  "and  Sarah  told  me  they  meant  to 
finish  the  mistletoe,  and  have  everything  cleaned 
up  by  supper-time.  They  don't  want  us,  I 
know.  Look  here,  we  '11  go  real  mumming  in- 
stead.    That  will  be  fun!" 

The  Valiant  Slasher  grinned  with  delight. 

"But  will  Mamma  let  us?"  he  inquired. 

"Oh,  it  will  be  all  right  if  we  're  back  by 
supper-time,"   said   St.    George,   hastily.       Only, 

no 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

of  course,  we  must  take  care  not  to  catch  cold. 
Come  and  help  me  to  get  some  wraps. " 

The  old  oak  chest  in  which  spare  shawls,  rugs, 
and  coats  were  kept  was  soon  ransacked,  and  the 
mummers'  gay  dresses  hidden  by  motley  wrap- 
pers. But  no  sooner  did  Darkie  and  Pax  be- 
hold the  coats,  etc.,  than  they  at  once  began  to 
leap  and  bark,  as  it  was  their  custom  to  do  when 
they  saw  any  one  dressing  to  go  out.  Robin  was 
sorely  afraid  that  this  would  betray  them;  but 
though  the  Captain  and  his  wife  heard  the  bark- 
ing they  did  not  guess  the  cause. 

So  the  front  door  being  very  gently  opened 
and  closed,  the  nursery  mummers  stole  away. 

in 


VII 

The  Nursery  Mummers  and  the  Old  Man. 

IT  was  a  very  fine  night.  The  snow  was 
well-trodden  on  the  drive,  so  that  it  did  not 
wet  their  feet,  but  on  the  trees  and  shrubs 
it  hung  soft  and  white. 

"It  's  much  jollier  being  out  at  night  than  in 
the  daytime, "  said  Robin. 

"Much, "  responded  Nicholas,  with  intense 
feeling. 

"We  '11  go  a-wassailing  next  week,"  said 
Robin.  "I  know  all  about  it,  and  perhaps  we 
shall  get  a  good  lot  of  money,  and  then  we  '11 
buy  tin  swords  with  scabbards  for  next  year.  I 
don't  like  these  sticks.  Oh,  dear,  I  wish  it 
was  n't  so  long  between  one  Christmas  and 
another." 

"Where  shall  we  go  first ?"  asked  Nicholas, 
as  they  turned  into  the  high  road.      But  before 

112 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

Bobin  could  reply,  Dora  clung  to  Nicholas,  cry- 
ing, "Oh,  look  at  those  men!" 

The  boys  looked  up  the  road,  down  which 
three  men  were  coming  in  a  very  unsteady 
fashion,  and  shouting  as  they  rolled  from  side  to 
side. 

' '  They  're  drunk, ' '  said  Nicholas ;  ' '  and  they  're 
shouting  at  us." 

"Oh,  run,  run!"  cried  Dora;  and  down  the 
road  they  ran,  the  men  shouting  and  following 
them.  Thev  had  not  run  far,  when  Hector 
caught  his  foot  in  the  Captain's  greatcoat,  which 
he  was  wearing,  and  came  down  headlong  in  the 
road.  They  were  close  by  a  gate,  and  when 
Nicholas  had  set  Hector  upon  his  legs,  St.  George 
hastily  opened  it. 

"This  is  the  first  house,"  he  said.  "We  '11 
act  here;"  and  all,  even  the  Valiant  Slasher, 
pressed  in  as  quickly  as  possible.  Once  safe 
within  the  grounds,  they  shouldered  their  sticks, 
and  resumed  their  composure. 

"You  're  going  to  the  front  door,"  said 
Nicholas.     "Mummers  ought  to  go  to  the  back." 

"We  don't  know  where  it  is,"  said  Eobin,  and 

8— Jackanapes.  113 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

lie  rang  the  front-door  bell.  There  was  a  pause. 
Then  lights  shone,  steps  were  heard,  and  at  last 
the  sound  of  much  unbarring,  unbolting,  and 
unlocking.  It  might  have  been  a  prison.  Then 
the  door  was  opened  by  an  elderly,  timid-looking 
woman,  who  held  a  tallow  candle  above  her  head. 

"Who  's  there?"  she  said,  "at  this  time  of 
night?" 

"We  're  Christmas  mummers,"  said  Robin, 
stoutly ;  "we  did  n 't  know  the  way  to  the  back 
door,  but—" 

"And  don't  you  know  better  than  to  come 
here?"  said  the  woman.  "Be  off  with  you,  as 
fast  as  you  can." 

"You  're  only  the  servant,"  said  Robin.  "Go 
and  ask  your  master  or  mistress  if  they 
wouldn't  like  to  see  us  act.  We  do  it  very 
well." 

"You  impudent  boy,  be  off  with  you!"  re- 
peated the  woman.  "Master  'd  no  more  let  you 
nor  any  other  such  rubbish  set  foot  in  this 
house—" 

"Woman!"  shouted  a  voice  close  behind  her, 
which  made  her  start  as  if  she  had  been  shot, 

114 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

"who  authorizes  you  to  say  what  your  master  will 
or  will  uot  do,  before  you  Ve  asked  him?  The 
boy  is  right.  You  are  the  servant,  and  it  is  not 
your  business  to  choose  for  me  whom  I  shall  or 
shall  not  see." 

"I  meant  no  harm,  sir,  I  'm  sure,"  said  the 
housekeeper;  "but  I  thought  you  'd  never—" 

"My  good  woman,"  said  her  master,  "if  I  had 
wanted  somebody  to  think  for  me,  you  're  the 
last  person  I  should  have  employed.  I  hire  you 
to  obey  orders,  not  to  think." 

"I  'm  sure,  sir,"  said  the  housekeeper,  whose 
only  form  of  argument  was  reiteration,  "I  never 
thought  you  would  have  seen  them—" 

"Then  you  were  wrong,"  shouted  her  master. 
"I  will  see  them.     Bring  them  in." 

He  was  a  tall,  gaunt  old  man,  and  Robin  stared 
at  him  for  some  minutes,  wondering  where  he 
could  have  seen  somebody  very  like  him.  At  last 
he  remembered.  It  was  the  old  gentleman  of 
the  blue  cloak. 

The  children  threw  off  their  wraps,  the  house- 
keeper helping  them,  and  chattering  ceaselessly, 
from  sheer  nervousness. 

ii5 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

"Well,  to  be  sure,"  said  she,  "their  dresses 
are  pretty,  too.  And  they  seem  quite  a  better 
sort  of  children;  they  talk  quite  genteel.  I  might 
ha'  knowed  they  were  n't  like  common  mummers, 
but  I  was  so  flusterated  hearing  the  bell  go  so 
late,  and—" 

"Are  they  ready?"  said  the  old  man,  who  had 
stood  like  a  ghost  in  the  dim  light  of  the  flaring 
tallow  candle,  grimly  watching  the  proceedings. 

"Yes,  sir.  Shall  I  take  them  to  the  kitchen, 
sir?" 

"For  you  and  the  other  idle  hussies  to  gape 
and  grin  at?  No.  Bring  them  to  the  library," 
he  snapped,  and  then  stalked  off,  leading  the 
way. 

The  housekeeper  accordingly  led  them  to  the 
library,  and  then  withdrew,  nearly  falling  on  her 
face  as  she  left  the  room  by  stumbling  over 
Darkie,  who  slipped  in  last  like  a  black  shadow. 

The  old  man  was  seated  in  a  carved  oak  chair 
by  the  fire. 

"I  never  said  the  dogs  were  to  come  in,"  he 
said. 

"But  we  can't  do  without  them,  please,"  said 
116 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

Robin,  boldly.  "You  see  there  are  eight  people 
in  'The  Peace  Egg,'  and  there  are  only  five  of 
us;  and  so  Darkie  has  to  be  the  Black  Prince, 
and  Pax  has  to  be  the  Fool,  and  so  we  have  to 
have  them." 

"Five  and  two  make  seven,"  said  the  old  man, 
with  a  grim  smile;  "what  do  you  do  for  the 
eighth?" 

"Oh,  that  's  the  little  one  at  the  end,"  said 
Robin,  confidentially.  "Mamma  said  we  weren't 
to  mention  him,  but  I  think  that  's  because  we  're 
children.— You  're  grown  up,  you  know,  so  I  '11 
show  you  the  book,  and  you  can  see  for  your- 
self," he  went  on,  drawing  "The  Peace  Egg" 
from  his  pocket:  "there,  that  's  the  picture  of 
him,  on  the  last  page;  black,  with  horns  and  a 
tail." 

The  old  man's  stern  face  relaxed  into  a  broad 
smile  as  he  examined  the  grotesque  woodcut;  but 
when  he  turned  to  the  first  page  the  smile  van- 
ished in  a  deep  frown,  and  his  eyes  shone  like 
hot  coals  with  anger.  He  had  seen  Robin's 
name. 

"Who  sent  you  here?"  he  asked,  in  a  hoarse 

117 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

voice.     "Speak,  and  speak  the  truth!     Did  your 
mother  send  you  here?" 

Robin  thought  the  old  man  was  angry  with 
them  for  playing  truant.  He  said,  slowly, 
"N-no.  She  didn't  exactly  send  us;  but  I 
don't  think  she  '11  mind  our  having  come  if  we 
get  back  in  time  for  supper.  Mamma  never 
forbid  our  going  mumming,  you  know." 

"I  don't  suppose  she  ever  thought  of  it," 
Nicholas  said,  candidly,  wagging  his  curly  head 
from  side  to  side. 

"She  knows  we  're  mummers,"  said  Robin, 
"for  she  helped  us.  When  we  were  abroad,  you 
know,  she  used  to  tell  us  about  the  mummers 
acting  at  Christmas,  when  she  was  a  little  girl; 
and  so  we  thought  we  'd  be  mummers,  and  so 
we  acted  to  Papa  and  Mamma,  and  so  we 
thought  we  'd  act  to  the  maids,  but  they  were 
cleaning  the  passages,  and  so  we  thought  we  'd 
really  go  mumming;  and  we  've  got  several 
other  houses  to  go  to  before  supper-time;  we  'd 
better  begin,  I  think,"  said  Robin;  and  without 
more  ado  he  began  to  march  round  and  round, 
raising  his  sword  and  shouting,— 

118 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

"  I  am  St.  George,  who  from  Old  England  sprung, 
My  famous  name  throughout  the  world  hath  rung" 

And  the  performance  went  off  quite  as  credit- 
ably as  before. 

As  the  children  acted,  the  old  man's  anger 
wore  off.  He  watched  them  with  an  interest  he 
could  not  repress.  When  Nicholas  took  some 
hard  thwacks  from  St.  George  without  flinching, 
the  old  man  clapped  his  hands ;  and,  after  the  en- 
counter between  St.  George  and  the  Black 
Prince,  he  said  he  would  not  have  had  the  dogs 
excluded  on  any  consideration.  It  was  just  at 
the  end,  when  they  were  all  marching  round  and 
round,  holding  on  by  each  other's  swords  "over 
the  shoulder,"  and  singing,  "A-mumming  we 
will  go,"  etc.,  that  Nicholas  suddenly  brought 
the  circle  to  a  standstill  by  stopping  dead  short, 
and  staring  up  at  the  wall  before  him. 

"What  are  you  stopping  for!"  said  St. 
George,  turning  indignantly  round. 

"Look  there!"  cried  Nicholas,  pointing  to  a 
little  painting  which  hung  above  the  old  man's 
head. 

Kobin  looked,  and  said,  abruptly,  "It's  Dora." 

119 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

"Which  is  Dora!"  asked  the  old  man,  in  a 
strange,  sharp  tone. 

"Here  she  is,"  said  Robin  and  Nicholas,  in 
..one  breath,  as  they  dragged  her  forward. 

"She  's  the  Doctor,"  said  Robin;  "and  you 
can't  see  her  face  for  her  things.  Dor,  take  off 
your  cap  and  pull  back  that  hood.  There!  Oh, 
it  is  like  her!" 

It  was  a  portrait  of  her  mother  as  a  child;  but 
of  this  the  nursery  mummers  knew  nothing. 
The  old  man  looked  as  the  peaked  cap  and  hood 
fell  away  from  Dora's  face  and  fair  curls,  and 
then  he  uttered  a  sharp  cry,  and  buried  his  head 
upon  his  hands.  The  boys  stood  stupefied,  but 
Dora  ran  up  to  him,  and  putting  her  little  hands 
on  his  arms,  said,  in  childish,  pitying  tones, 
"Oh,  I  'm  so  sorry!  Have  you  got  a  headache! 
May  Robin  put  the  shovel  in  the  fire  for  you? 
Mamma  has  hot  shovels  for  her  headaches." 
And,  though  the  old  man  did  not  speak  or  move, 
she  went  on  coaxing  him,  and  stroking  his  head, 
on  which  the  hair  was  white.  At  this  moment 
Pax  took  one  of  his  unexpected  runs,  and  jumped 
onto  the  old  man's  knee,  in  his  own  particular 

120 


THE    PEACE    EGG 


fashion,  and  then  yawned  at  the  company.  The 
old  man  was  startled,  and  lifted  his  face  sud- 
denly.    It  was  wet  with  tears. 


"OH,    I    'M    SO    SORRY." 

"Why,    yon 're    crying!"    exclaimed   the    chil- 
dren with  one  breath. 

121 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

"It  's  very  odd,"  said  Bobin,  fretfully.  "I 
can't  think  what  's  the  matter  to-night.  Mamma 
was  crying,  too,  when  we  were  acting,  and  Papa 
said  we  weren't  to  tease  her  with  questions,  and 
he  kissed  her  hand,  and  I  kissed  her  hand,  too. 
And  Papa  said  we  must  all  be  very  good  and 
kind  to  poor,  dear  Mamma,  and  so  I  mean  to  be, 
she  's  so  good.  And  I  think  we  'd  better  go 
home,  or  perhaps  she  '11  be  frightened,"  Robin 
added. 

"She  's  so  good,  is  she?"  asked  the  old  man. 
He  had  put  Pax  off  his  knee,  and  taken  Dora 
onto  it. 

' '  Oh,  is  n  't  she ! ' '  said  Nicholas,  swaying  his 
curly  head  from  side  to  side  as  usual. 

"She  's  always  good,"  said  Eobin,  emphatic- 
ally; "and  so  's  Papa.  But  I  'm  always  doing 
something  I  oughtn't  to,"  he  added,  slowly. 
"But  then,  you  know,  I  don't  pretend  to  obey 
Sarah.  I  don't  care  a  fig  for  Sarah;  and  I  won't 
obey  any  woman  but  Mamma." 

"Who  's  Sarah?"  asked  the  grandfather. 

"She  's  our  nurse,"  said  Robin,  "and  she  tells 
—I  mustn't  says  what  she  tells— but  it  's  not  the 

122 


THE    PEACE    EGG 
,1 


"IT   WAS    HER    FATHER,    WITH    HER    CHILD    IN    HIS    ARMS." 

truth.     She  told  one  about  you  the  other  day," 
he  added. 

123 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

" About  me?"  said  the  old  man. 

' '  She  said  you  were  our  grandpapa.  So  then  I 
knew  she  was  telling  you  know  ivhat." 

"How  did  you  know  it  wasn't  true?"  the  old 
man  asked. 

"Why,  of  course,"  said  Robin,  "if  you  were 
our  Mamma's  father,  you  'd  know  her,  and  be 
very  fond  of  her,  and  come  and  see  her.  And 
then  you  'd  be  our  grandfather,  too,  and  you  'd 
have  us  to  see  you,  and  perhaps  give  us 
Christmas-boxes.  I  wish  you  were,"  Robin 
added  with  a  sigh.     "It  would  be  very  nice." 

"Would  you  like  it?"  asked  the  old  man,  of 
Dora. 

And  Dora  who  was  half  asleep  and  very  com- 
fortable, put  her  little  arms  about  his  neck  as 
she  was  wont  to  put  them  round  the  Captain's, 
and  said,  "Very  much." 

He  put  her  down  at  last,  very  tenderly,  almost 
unwillingly,  and  left  the  children  alone.  By- 
and-by  he  returned,  dressed  in  the  blue  cloak, 
and  took  Dora  up  again. 

"I  will  see  you  home,"  he  said. 

The  children  had  not  been  missed.  The  clock 
124 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

had  only  just  struck  nine  when  there  came  a 
knock  on  the  door  of  the  dining-room,  where  the 
Captain  and  his  wife  still  sat  by  the  Yule  log. 
She  said,  "Come  in,"  wearily,  thinking  it  was 
the  frumenty  and  the  Christmas  cakes. 

But  it  was  her  father,   with  her  child  in  his 


arms 


125 


VIII 

Peace  and  Goodwill. 

LUCY  JANE  BULL  and  her  sisters  were 
quite  old  enough  to  understand  a  good 
deal  of  grown-up  conversation  when  they 
overheard  it.  Thus,  when  a  friend  of  Mrs. 
Bull's  observed  during  an  afternoon  call  that 
she  believed  that  "officers'  wives  were  very 
dressy,"  the  young  ladies  were  at  once  resolved 
to  keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  Captain's  wife's 
bonnet  in  church  on  Christmas  Day. 

The  Bulls  had  just  taken  their  seats  when  the 
Captain's  wife  came  in.  They  really  would 
have  hid  their  faces,  and  looked  at  the  bonnet 
afterwards,  but  for  the  startling  sight  that  met 
the  gaze  of  the  congregation.  The  old  grand- 
father walked  into  church  abreast  of  the  Captain. 

"They  've  met  in  the  porch,"  whispered  Mr. 
Bull,  under  the  shelter  of  his  hat. 

"They  can't  quarrel  publicly  in  a  place  of 
worship,"  said  Mrs.  Bull,  turning  pale. 

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THE    PEACE    EGG 


"She  's  gone  into  his  seat,"  cried  Lucy  Jane, 
in  a  shrill  whisper. 

"And  the  children  after  her,"  added  the  other 
sister,  incautiously  aloud. 


"WALKED    INTO   CHURCH   ABREAST    OF   THE    CAPTAIN." 

There  was  now  no  doubt  about  the  matter. 
The  old  man  in  his  blue  cloak  stood  for  a  few 
moments  politely  disputing  the  question  of  prece- 

127 


THE    PEACE    EGG 

dence  with  his  handsome  son-in-law.  Then  the 
Captain  bowed  and  passed  in,  and  the  old  man 
followed  him. 

By  the  time  that  the  service  was  ended  every- 
body knew  of  the  happy  peacemaking,  and  was 
glad.  One  old  friend  after  another  came  np  with 
blessings  and  good  wishes.  This  was  a  proper 
Christmas,  indeed,  they  said.  There  was  general 
rejoicing. 

But  only  the  grandfather  and  his  children 
knew  that  it  was  hatched  from  "The  Peace 
Egg." 


128 


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